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Semi-Parametric Dynamic Contextual Pricing

Neural Information Processing Systems

Motivated by the application of real-time pricing in e-commerce platforms, we consider the problem of revenue-maximization in a setting where the seller can leverage contextual information describing the customer's history and the product's type to predict her valuation of the product. However, her true valuation is unobservable to the seller, only binary outcome in the form of success-failure of a transaction is observed. Unlike in usual contextual bandit settings, the optimal price/arm given a covariate in our setting is sensitive to the detailed characteristics of the residual uncertainty distribution. We develop a semi-parametric model in which the residual distribution is non-parametric and provide the first algorithm which learns both regression parameters and residual distribution with Õ(p n) regret. We empirically test a scalable implementation of our algorithm and observe good performance.


Asynchronous Proportional Response Dynamics: Convergence in Markets with Adversarial Scheduling

Neural Information Processing Systems

We study Proportional Response Dynamics (PRD) in linear Fisher markets, where participants act asynchronously. We model this scenario as a sequential process in which at each step, an adversary selects a subset of the players to update their bids, subject to liveness constraints. We show that if every bidder individually applies the PRD update rule whenever they are included in the group of bidders selected by the adversary, then, in the generic case, the entire dynamic converges to a competitive equilibrium of the market. Our proof technique reveals additional properties of linear Fisher markets, such as the uniqueness of the market equilibrium for generic parameters and the convergence of associated no swap regret dynamics and best response dynamics under certain conditions.


Localize, Understand, Collaborate: Semantic-Aware Dragging via Intention Reasoner

Neural Information Processing Systems

Flexible and accurate drag-based editing is a challenging task that has recently garnered significant attention. Current methods typically model this problem as automatically learning "how to drag" through point dragging and often produce one deterministic estimation, which presents two key limitations: 1) Overlooking the inherently ill-posed nature of drag-based editing, where multiple results may correspond to a given input, as illustrated in Figure 1; 2) Ignoring the constraint of image quality, which may lead to unexpected distortion. To alleviate this, we propose LucidDrag, which shifts the focus from "how to drag" to "what-then-how" paradigm. LucidDrag comprises an intention reasoner and a collaborative guidance sampling mechanism. The former infers several optimal editing strategies, identifying what content and what semantic direction to be edited. Based on the former, the latter addresses "how to drag" by collaboratively integrating existing editing guidance with the newly proposed semantic guidance and quality guidance. Specifically, semantic guidance is derived by establishing a semantic editing direction based on reasoned intentions, while quality guidance is achieved through classifier guidance using an image fidelity discriminator. Both qualitative and quantitative comparisons demonstrate the superiority of LucidDrag over previous methods.


Save over 100 on Sony XM4 headphones ahead of Memorial Day

Mashable

SAVE 120: As of May 23, Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones are on sale for 228 at Amazon. If you're looking for a seriously high-quality pair of headphones, you won't want to miss this great deal on Sony XM4s. Premium noise cancellation, stellar sound quality, and Alexa voice control, these are next level. And of May 23, you can get them for less. At Amazon, they are currently on sale for 228, saving you 120 on list price.


Forget Cocomelon--this kids' app won't rot their brains

Popular Science

If your child loves their tablet, but you struggle with finding appropriate games, try Pok Pok, a learning app for kids aged 2-8 that doesn't feel like learning. It features a collection of calming, open-ended digital toys that help children explore STEM, problem-solving, creativity, and more without ads, in-app purchases, or overstimulation. Built by parents in collaboration with early childhood experts, Pok Pok offers a Montessori-inspired experience that supports healthy screen time and lifelong learning. Kids using Pok Pok build foundational skills in STEM, problem-solving, language, numbers, cause and effect, and emotional development. Each game is open-ended, so there's no "winning" or "losing."


Bounded rationality in structured density estimation

Neural Information Processing Systems

Learning to accurately represent environmental uncertainty is crucial for adaptive and optimal behaviors in various cognitive tasks. However, it remains unclear how the human brain, constrained by finite cognitive resources, internalise the highly structured environmental uncertainty. In this study, we explore how these learned distributions deviate from the ground truth, resulting in observable inconsistency in a novel structured density estimation task. During each trial, human participants were asked to learn and report the latent probability distribution functions underlying sequentially presented independent observations. As the number of observations increased, the reported predictive density became closer to the ground truth. Nevertheless, we observed an intriguing inconsistency in human structure estimation, specifically a large error in the number of reported clusters.


#ICRA2025 social media round-up

AIHub

The 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA) took place from 19–23 May, in Atlanta, USA. The event featured plenary and keynote sessions, tutorial and workshops, forums, and a community day. Find out what the participants got up during the conference. Check out what's happening at the #ICRA2025 Welcome Reception! The excitement is real -- #ICRA2025 is already buzzing!


#ICRA2025 social media round-up

Robohub

The 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA) took place from 19–23 May, in Atlanta, USA. The event featured plenary and keynote sessions, tutorial and workshops, forums, and a community day. Find out what the participants got up during the conference. Check out what's happening at the #ICRA2025 Welcome Reception! The excitement is real -- #ICRA2025 is already buzzing!