(Non-)equivalence of universal priors

Ian Wood, Peter Sunehag, Marcus Hutter

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    7 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Ray Solomonoff invented the notion of universal induction featuring an aptly termed "universal" prior probability function over all possible computable environments [9]. The essential property of this prior was its ability to dominate all other such priors. Later, Levin introduced another construction - a mixture of all possible priors or "universal mixture"[12]. These priors are well known to be equivalent up to multiplicative constants. Here, we seek to clarify further the relationships between these three characterisations of a universal prior (Solomonoff's, universal mixtures, and universally dominant priors). We see that the the constructions of Solomonoff and Levin define an identical class of priors, while the class of universally dominant priors is strictly larger. We provide some characterisation of the discrepancy.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAlgorithmic Probability and Friends
    Subtitle of host publicationBayesian Prediction and Artificial Intelligence - Papers from the Ray Solomonoff 85th Memorial Conference
    PublisherSpringer Verlag
    Pages417-425
    Number of pages9
    ISBN (Print)9783642449574
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013
    EventRay Solomonoff 85th Memorial Conference on Algorithmic Probability and Friends: Bayesian Prediction and Artificial Intelligence - Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    Duration: 30 Nov 20112 Dec 2011

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
    Volume7070 LNAI
    ISSN (Print)0302-9743
    ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

    Conference

    ConferenceRay Solomonoff 85th Memorial Conference on Algorithmic Probability and Friends: Bayesian Prediction and Artificial Intelligence
    Country/TerritoryAustralia
    CityMelbourne, VIC
    Period30/11/112/12/11

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