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Invited Talk: Dale Schuurmans - Understanding Deep Value Estimation
Dale Schuurmans

Mon Dec 13 02:30 PM -- 02:55 PM (PST) @
in Deep Reinforcement Learning »

Estimating long term returns given short data trajectories remains a core technique in deep reinforcement learning. Remarkably, deep reinforcement learning in-the-wild often succeeds even when theoretical assumptions needed to guarantee good performance are neglected. I will discuss two recent investigations that shed some light on this phenomenon. First, I will discuss some findings about the implicit biases embodied by different value estimation algorithms, and why apparently unsound methods can still exhibit generalization advantages. Then I will discuss some recent ideas about how the risk of self-delusion in value estimation can be reduced through temporal grounding. These observations do not close the investigation, but do offer alternative prospects for improving deep value estimation in practice.

Author Information

Dale Schuurmans (Google Brain & University of Alberta)

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