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Workshop
The Optimization Foundations of Reinforcement Learning
Bo Dai · Niao He · Nicolas Le Roux · Lihong Li · Dale Schuurmans · Martha White

Sat Dec 14 08:00 AM -- 06:00 PM (PST) @ West Ballroom A
Event URL: https://optrl2019.github.io/ »

Interest in reinforcement learning (RL) has boomed with recent improvements in benchmark tasks that suggest the potential for a revolutionary advance in practical applications. Unfortunately, research in RL remains hampered by limited theoretical understanding, making the field overly reliant on empirical exploration with insufficient principles to guide future development. It is imperative to develop a stronger fundamental understanding of the success of recent RL methods, both to expand the useability of the methods and accelerate future deployment. Recently, fundamental concepts from optimization and control theory have provided a fresh perspective that has led to the development of sound RL algorithms with provable efficiency. The goal of this workshop is to catalyze the growing synergy between RL and optimization research, promoting a rational reconsideration of the foundational principles for reinforcement learning, and bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Author Information

Bo Dai (Google Brain)
Niao He (UIUC)
Nicolas Le Roux (Google)
Lihong Li (Google Research)
Dale Schuurmans (Google Inc.)
Martha White (University of Alberta)

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