Multi-Agent Learning with Policy Prediction

Due to the non-stationary environment, learning in multi-agent systems is a challenging problem. This paper first introduces a new gradient-based learning algorithm, augmenting the basic gradient ascent approach with policy prediction. We prove that this augmentation results in a stronger notion of convergence than the basic gradient ascent, that is, strategies converge to a Nash equilibrium within a restricted class of iterated games. Motivated by this augmentation, we then propose a new practical multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithm exploiting approximate policy prediction. Empirical results show that it converges faster and in a wider variety of situations than state-of-the-art MARL algorithms.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: AAAI
• Authors: Chongjie Zhang, Victor R. Lesser
• Keywords: AAAI 2010, Basic Gradient Ascent, Gradient Ascent Approach, Intelligent Agents, Policy Prediction