Information Theoretic Counterfactual Learning from Missing-Not-At-Random Feedback

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2009.02623v2
• Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2020 13:54:54 GMT
• Title: Information Theoretic Counterfactual Learning from Missing-Not-At-Random Feedback
• Authors: Zifeng Wang and Xi Chen and Rui Wen and Shao-Lun Huang and Ercan E. Kuruoglu and Yefeng Zheng
• Abstract summary: We build an information-theoretic counterfactual variational information bottleneck (CVIB) for dealing with missing-not-at-random data. By separating the task-aware mutual information term in the original information bottleneck Lagrangian into factual and counterfactual parts, we derive a contrastive information loss. Empirical evaluation on real-world datasets shows that our CVIB significantly enhances both shallow and deep models.
• Score: 34.62042315265005
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Counterfactual learning for dealing with missing-not-at-random data (MNAR) is an intriguing topic in the recommendation literature since MNAR data are ubiquitous in modern recommender systems. Missing-at-random (MAR) data, namely randomized controlled trials (RCTs), are usually required by most previous counterfactual learning methods for debiasing learning. However, the execution of RCTs is extraordinarily expensive in practice. To circumvent the use of RCTs, we build an information-theoretic counterfactual variational information bottleneck (CVIB), as an alternative for debiasing learning without RCTs. By separating the task-aware mutual information term in the original information bottleneck Lagrangian into factual and counterfactual parts, we derive a contrastive information loss and an additional output confidence penalty, which facilitates balanced learning between the factual and counterfactual domains. Empirical evaluation on real-world datasets shows that our CVIB significantly enhances both shallow and deep models, which sheds light on counterfactual learning in recommendation that goes beyond RCTs.

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