Beyond strict competition: approximate convergence of multi-agent Q-learning dynamics
File(s)Near_NZSG.pdf (1.06 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Hussain, A
Belardinelli, F
Piliouras, G
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The behaviour of multi-agent learning in competitive settings is often considered under the restrictive assumption of a zero-sum game. Only under this strict requirement is the behaviour of learning well understood; beyond this, learning dynamics can often display non-convergent behaviours which prevent fixed-point analysis. Nonetheless, many relevant competitive games do not satisfy the zero-sum assumption. Motivated by this, we study a smooth variant of Q-Learning, a popular reinforcement learning dynamics which balances the agents' tendency to maximise their payoffs with their propensity to explore the state space. We examine this dynamic in games which are 'close' to network zero-sum games and find that Q-Learning converges to a neighbourhood around a unique equilibrium. The size of the neighbourhood is determined by the 'distance' to the zero-sum game, as well as the exploration rates of the agents. We complement these results by providing a method whereby, given an arbitrary network game, the 'nearest' network zero-sum game can be found efficiently. As our experiments show, these guarantees are independent of whether the dynamics ultimately reach an equilibrium, or remain non-convergent.
Date Acceptance
2023-08-19
Citation
IJCAI : proceedings of the conference / sponsored by the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, 2023, pp.135-143
ISBN
9781956792034
ISSN
1045-0823
Publisher
International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence
Start Page
135
End Page
143
Journal / Book Title
IJCAI : proceedings of the conference / sponsored by the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence
Volume
2023
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Author(s).
Identifier
https://www.ijcai.org/proceedings/2023/16
Source
the Thirty-Second International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2023-08-19
Finish Date
2023-08-25
Coverage Spatial
Macao, SAR
Date Publish Online
2023-08-19