Graph path search is a classic computer science problem that has been recently approached with Reinforcement Learning (RL) due to its potential to outperform prior methods. Existing RL techniques typically assume a global view of the network, which is not suitable for large-scale, dynamic, and privacy-sensitive settings. An area of particular interest is search in social networks due to its numerous applications. Inspired by seminal work in experimental sociology, which showed that decentralized yet efficient search is possible in social networks, we frame the problem as a collaborative task between multiple agents equipped with a limited local view of the network. We propose a multi-agent approach for graph path search that successfully leverages both homophily and structural heterogeneity. Our experiments, carried out over synthetic and real-world social networks, demonstrate that our model significantly outperforms learned and heuristic baselines. Furthermore, our results show that meaningful embeddings for graph navigation can be constructed using reward-driven learning.

Knowledge tagging for questions is vital in modern intelligent educational applications, including learning progress diagnosis, practice question recommendations, and course content organization. Traditionally, these annotations have been performed by pedagogical experts, as the task demands not only a deep semantic understanding of question stems and knowledge definitions but also a strong ability to link problem-solving logic with relevant knowledge concepts. With the advent of advanced natural language processing (NLP) algorithms, such as pre-trained language models and large language models (LLMs), pioneering studies have explored automating the knowledge tagging process using various machine learning models. In this paper, we investigate the use of a multi-agent system to address the limitations of previous algorithms, particularly in handling complex cases involving intricate knowledge definitions and strict numerical constraints. By demonstrating its superior performance on the publicly available math question knowledge tagging dataset, MathKnowCT, we highlight the significant potential of an LLM-based multi-agent system in overcoming the challenges that previous methods have encountered. Finally, through an in-depth discussion of the implications of automating knowledge tagging, we underscore the promising results of deploying LLM-based algorithms in educational contexts.

Recent success of machine learning in many domains has been overwhelming, which often leads to false expectations regarding the capabilities of behavior learning in robotics. In this survey, we analyze the current state of machine learning for robotic behaviors. We will give a broad overview of behaviors that have been learned and used on real robots. Our focus is on kinematically or sensorially complex robots. That includes humanoid robots or parts of humanoid robots, for example, legged robots or robotic arms. We will classify presented behaviors according to various categories and we will draw conclusions about what can be learned and what should be learned. Furthermore, we will give an outlook on problems that are challenging today but might be solved by machine learning in the future and argue that classical robotics and other approaches from artificial intelligence should be integrated more with machine learning to form complete, autonomous systems.

AI Safety is an emerging area of critical importance to the safe adoption and deployment of AI systems. With the rapid proliferation of AI and especially with the recent advancement of Generative AI (or GAI), the technology ecosystem behind the design, development, adoption, and deployment of AI systems has drastically changed, broadening the scope of AI Safety to address impacts on public safety and national security. In this paper, we propose a novel architectural framework for understanding and analyzing AI Safety; defining its characteristics from three perspectives: Trustworthy AI, Responsible AI, and Safe AI. We provide an extensive review of current research and advancements in AI safety from these perspectives, highlighting their key challenges and mitigation approaches. Through examples from state-of-the-art technologies, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), we present innovative mechanism, methodologies, and techniques for designing and testing AI safety. Our goal is to promote advancement in AI safety research, and ultimately enhance people's trust in digital transformation.

Multi-agent pathfinding (MAPF) is a challenging computational problem that typically requires to find collision-free paths for multiple agents in a shared environment. Solving MAPF optimally is NP-hard, yet efficient solutions are critical for numerous applications, including automated warehouses and transportation systems. Recently, learning-based approaches to MAPF have gained attention, particularly those leveraging deep reinforcement learning. Following current trends in machine learning, we have created a foundation model for the MAPF problems called MAPF-GPT. Using imitation learning, we have trained a policy on a set of pre-collected sub-optimal expert trajectories that can generate actions in conditions of partial observability without additional heuristics, reward functions, or communication with other agents. The resulting MAPF-GPT model demonstrates zero-shot learning abilities when solving the MAPF problem instances that were not present in the training dataset. We show that MAPF-GPT notably outperforms the current best-performing learnable-MAPF solvers on a diverse range of problem instances and is efficient in terms of computation (in the inference mode).

In this paper, we consider the tracking of arbitrary curvilinear geometric paths in three-dimensional output spaces of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) without pre-specified timing requirements, commonly referred to as path-following problems, subjected to bounded inputs. Specifically, we propose a novel nonlinear path-following guidance law for a UAV that enables it to follow any smooth curvilinear path in three dimensions while accounting for the bounded control authority in the design. The proposed solution offers a general treatment of the path-following problem by removing the dependency on the path's geometry, which makes it applicable to paths with varying levels of complexity and smooth curvatures. Additionally, the proposed strategy draws inspiration from the pursuit guidance approach, which is known for its simplicity and ease of implementation. Theoretical analysis guarantees that the UAV converges to its desired path within a fixed time and remains on it irrespective of its initial configuration with respect to the path. Finally, the simulations demonstrate the merits and effectiveness of the proposed guidance strategy through a wide range of engagement scenarios, showcasing the UAV's ability to follow diverse curvilinear paths accurately.

In this study, we consider the application of max-plus-linear approximators for Q-function in offline reinforcement learning of discounted Markov decision processes. In particular, we incorporate these approximators to propose novel fitted Q-iteration (FQI) algorithms with provable convergence. Exploiting the compatibility of the Bellman operator with max-plus operations, we show that the max-plus-linear regression within each iteration of the proposed FQI algorithm reduces to simple max-plus matrix-vector multiplications. We also consider the variational implementation of the proposed algorithm which leads to a per-iteration complexity that is independent of the number of samples.

In this paper, we propose a novel approach where agents can form swarms to produce high-quality responses effectively. This is accomplished by utilizing agents capable of data inference and ranking, which can be effectively implemented using LLMs as response classifiers. We assess existing approaches for trustless agent inference, define our methodology, estimate practical parameters, and model various types of malicious agent attacks. Our method leverages the collective intelligence of swarms, ensuring robust and efficient decentralized AI inference with better accuracy, security, and reliability. We show that our approach is an order of magnitude faster than other trustless inference strategies reaching less than 125 ms validation latency.

Current methods to learn controllers for autonomous vehicles (AVs) focus on behavioural cloning. Being trained only on exact historic data, the resulting agents often generalize poorly to novel scenarios. Simulators provide the opportunity to go beyond offline datasets, but they are still treated as complicated black boxes, only used to update the global simulation state. As a result, these RL algorithms are slow, sample-inefficient, and prior-agnostic. In this work, we leverage a differentiable simulator and design an analytic policy gradients (APG) approach to training AV controllers on the large-scale Waymo Open Motion Dataset. Our proposed framework brings the differentiable simulator into an end-to-end training loop, where gradients of the environment dynamics serve as a useful prior to help the agent learn a more grounded policy. We combine this setup with a recurrent architecture that can efficiently propagate temporal information across long simulated trajectories. This APG method allows us to learn robust, accurate, and fast policies, while only requiring widely-available expert trajectories, instead of scarce expert actions. We compare to behavioural cloning and find significant improvements in performance and robustness to noise in the dynamics, as well as overall more intuitive human-like handling.

This paper introduces a system using generative AI agents to create tip sheets for investigative data reporting. Our system employs three specialized agents--an analyst, a reporter, and an editor--to collaboratively generate and refine tips from datasets. We validate this approach using real-world investigative stories, demonstrating that our agent-based system generally generates more newsworthy and accurate insights compared to a baseline model without agents, although some variability was noted between different stories. Our findings highlight the potential of generative AI to provide leads for investigative data reporting.