Exploration-Exploitation papers, 2023–2026

Key findings

• Exploration-Exploitation went from 47 papers in 2023 to 71 in 2026, roughly 1.5x in three years.
• NeurIPS publishes the most Exploration-Exploitation work: 93 papers from 2023 to 2026, 40% of the four-venue total.
• The fastest-growing overlap is with Reasoning Models: papers tagged with both rose from 1 in 2023 to 10 in 2026.
• Among the 5 topics under Recommenders and Ads, it ranks #4 by 2026 paper count; the fastest grower in the group, Click-Through Prediction, is up 2.6x versus 1.5x here.

Representative papers

Spread across years and venues so every edition shows up

• NeurIPS 2026Decentralized Q-Learning in Markov Potential Games
• ICML 2026Bandit Social Leaning Dynamics with Exploration Episodes
• ICLR 2026Laplacian Kernelized Bandit
• CVPR 2026Underground Plant Exploration Non-Destructive 3D Root Assessment with GPR Based
• NeurIPS 2025DUET: Dual-Perspective Pseudo Labeling and Uncertainty-aware Exploration & Exploitation Training for Source-Free Domain Adaptation
• ICML 2025Clustering Items through Bandit Feedback: Finding the Right Feature out of Many
• ICLR 2025B-STaR: Monitoring and Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in Self-Taught Reasoners
• CVPR 2025Dynamic Pseudo Labeling via Gradient Cutting for High-Low Entropy Exploration
• NeurIPS 2024Exploration, Exploitation, and Engagement in Multi-Armed Bandits with Abandonment
• ICML 2024A Contextual Combinatorial Bandit Approach to Negotiation
• ICLR 2024Dropout-Based Rashomon Set Exploration for Efficient Predictive Multiplicity Estimation
• CVPR 2024Instance-aware Exploration-Verification-Exploitation for Instance ImageGoal Navigation
• NeurIPS 2023Adaptive Algorithms for Relaxed Pareto Set Identification
• ICML 2023Curiosity in Hindsight: Intrinsic Exploration in Stochastic Environments
• ICLR 2023Combinatorial Pure Exploration of Causal Bandits
• CVPR 2023Exact-NeRF: An Exploration of a Precise Volumetric Parameterization for Neural Radiance Fields
• NeurIPS 2026Hit Expansion via Localized Exploration of Synthesizable Chemical Space
• ICML 2026Exploration-free Algorithms for Multi-group Mean Estimation
• ICLR 2026DIVERSE: Disagreement-Inducing Vector Evolution for Rashomon Set Exploration
• CVPR 2026From Exploration to Exploitation A Two-Stage Entropy RLVR Approach for

All Exploration-Exploitation papers

54 papers, page 1 of 2

1. CVPR 2025Dynamic Pseudo Labeling via Gradient Cutting for High-Low Entropy Exploration
2. CVPR 2025GUI-Xplore: Empowering Generalizable GUI Agents with One Exploration
3. CVPR 2025Hierarchical Features Matter: A Deep Exploration of Progressive Parameterization Method for Dataset Distillation
4. ICLR 2025B-STaR: Monitoring and Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in Self-Taught Reasoners
5. ICLR 2025Bandit Learning in Matching Markets with Indifference
6. ICLR 2025Beyond-Expert Performance with Limited Demonstrations: Efficient Imitation Learning with Double Exploration
7. ICLR 2025Brain Bandit: A Biologically Grounded Neural Network for Efficient Control of Exploration
8. ICLR 2025Breaking the $\log(1/\Delta_2)$ Barrier: Better Batched Best Arm Identification with Adaptive Grids
9. ICLR 2025Demystifying Online Clustering of Bandits: Enhanced Exploration Under Stochastic and Smoothed Adversarial Contexts
10. ICLR 2025From Exploration to Mastery: Enabling LLMs to Master Tools via Self-Driven Interactions
11. ICLR 2025Highly Efficient Self-Adaptive Reward Shaping for Reinforcement Learning
12. ICLR 2025kNN Attention Demystified: A Theoretical Exploration for Scalable Transformers
13. ICLR 2025Online Preference Alignment for Language Models via Count-based Exploration
14. ICML 2025Catching Two Birds with One Stone: Reward Shaping with Dual Random Networks for Balancing Exploration and Exploitation
15. ICML 2025Clustering Items through Bandit Feedback: Finding the Right Feature out of Many
16. ICML 2025Constrained Pareto Set Identification with Bandit Feedback
17. ICML 2025Enhancing Diversity In Parallel Agents: A Maximum State Entropy Exploration Story
18. ICML 2025EVOLvE: Evaluating and Optimizing LLMs For In-Context Exploration
19. ICML 2025Fixed-Confidence Multiple Change Point Identification under Bandit Feedback
20. ICML 2025Fixing the Loose Brake: Exponential-Tailed Stopping Time in Best Arm Identification
21. ICML 2025Hyper: Hyperparameter Robust Efficient Exploration in Reinforcement Learning
22. ICML 2025Instance-Optimal Pure Exploration for Linear Bandits on Continuous Arms
23. ICML 2025KEA: Keeping Exploration Alive by Proactively Coordinating Exploration Strategies
24. ICML 2025Learning Imperfect Information Extensive-form Games with Last-iterate Convergence under Bandit Feedback
25. ICML 2025Learning Safe Control via On-the-Fly Bandit Exploration
26. ICML 2025Leveraging Skills from Unlabeled Prior Data for Efficient Online Exploration
27. ICML 2025Model-Based Exploration in Monitored Markov Decision Processes
28. ICML 2025Near Optimal Best Arm Identification for Clustered Bandits
29. ICML 2025Near Optimal Non-asymptotic Sample Complexity of 1-Identification
30. ICML 2025Optimal and Practical Batched Linear Bandit Algorithm
31. ICML 2025Provably Efficient Exploration in Inverse Constrained Reinforcement Learning
32. ICML 2025The Batch Complexity of Bandit Pure Exploration
33. ICML 2025The Harder Path: Last Iterate Convergence for Uncoupled Learning in Zero-Sum Games with Bandit Feedback
34. ICML 2025Zero-Inflated Bandits
35. NeurIPS 2025Balancing Performance and Costs in Best Arm Identification
36. NeurIPS 2025Bohdi: Heterogeneous LLM Fusion with Automatic Data Exploration
37. NeurIPS 2025Deployment Efficient Reward-Free Exploration with Linear Function Approximation
38. NeurIPS 2025DISCOVER: Automated Curricula for Sparse-Reward Reinforcement Learning
39. NeurIPS 2025DUET: Dual-Perspective Pseudo Labeling and Uncertainty-aware Exploration & Exploitation Training for Source-Free Domain Adaptation
40. NeurIPS 2025Exploration from a Primal-Dual Lens: Value-Incentivized Actor-Critic Methods for Sample-Efficient Online RL
41. NeurIPS 2025Exploration via Feature Perturbation in Contextual Bandits
42. NeurIPS 2025From Contextual Combinatorial Semi-Bandits to Bandit List Classification: Improved Sample Complexity with Sparse Rewards
43. NeurIPS 2025Geometry Meets Incentives: Sample-Efficient Incentivized Exploration with Linear Contexts
44. NeurIPS 2025Imagine Beyond ! Distributionally Robust Autoencoding for State Space Coverage in Online Reinforcement Learning
45. NeurIPS 2025Infrequent Exploration in Linear Bandits
46. NeurIPS 2025Instance-Dependent Regret Bounds for Nonstochastic Linear Partial Monitoring
47. NeurIPS 2025Non-Uniform Multiclass Learning with Bandit Feedback
48. NeurIPS 2025Novel Exploration via Orthogonality
49. NeurIPS 2025Order-Level Attention Similarity Across Language Models: A Latent Commonality
50. NeurIPS 2025Reinforcement Learning with Action Chunking

FAQ

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers were published at NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML and CVPR from 2023 to 2026?

235 in total: 47 in 2023, 63 in 2024, 54 in 2025, 71 in 2026.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at NeurIPS 2026?

NeurIPS 2026 has 25 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 20 the year before.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at ICLR 2026?

ICLR 2026 has 23 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 10 the year before.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at ICML 2026?

ICML 2026 has 19 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 21 the year before.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at CVPR 2026?

CVPR 2026 has 4 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 3 the year before.

Which conference publishes the most Exploration-Exploitation papers?

NeurIPS, with 93 papers from 2023 to 2026.