Peter Vamplew
@amp1874.bsky.social
Professor in IT @ Federation Uni. Multi-objective reinforcement learning. Human-aligned AI. Best known for the f*cking mailing list paper. Jambo & Bengals fan. https://t.co/UNoOrbGApz
Pinned
Peter Vamplew
@amp1874.bsky.social
· Nov 19
A practical guide to multi-objective reinforcement learning and planning - Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
Real-world sequential decision-making tasks are generally complex, requiring trade-offs between multiple, often conflicting, objectives. Despite this, the majority of research in reinforcement learnin...
link.springer.com
I'm going to post about a few of my key and/or recent papers to create some context for my bsky profile.
Probably the most important paper I've been part of: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This practical guide reviews the 'why' and 'how' of multi-objective reinforcement learning.
Probably the most important paper I've been part of: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This practical guide reviews the 'why' and 'how' of multi-objective reinforcement learning.
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
We’ve all seen the evidence that ARC are already stretched. They already outsource so much admin to university research offices – duplication across all unis – & have zero capacity to inform the public about what tax-payer money is funding.
Their response? Reduce capacity further!
Utter nonsense!
Their response? Reduce capacity further!
Utter nonsense!
November 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
We’ve all seen the evidence that ARC are already stretched. They already outsource so much admin to university research offices – duplication across all unis – & have zero capacity to inform the public about what tax-payer money is funding.
Their response? Reduce capacity further!
Utter nonsense!
Their response? Reduce capacity further!
Utter nonsense!
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
ARC are considering a restructure in which jobs there will be lost, a source tells me.
This seems ridiculous when they're about to completely overhaul the entire grants system – they've never undertaken anything so large before!
I've long said ARC needs MANY MORE staff, & should do more, not less.
This seems ridiculous when they're about to completely overhaul the entire grants system – they've never undertaken anything so large before!
I've long said ARC needs MANY MORE staff, & should do more, not less.
November 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
ARC are considering a restructure in which jobs there will be lost, a source tells me.
This seems ridiculous when they're about to completely overhaul the entire grants system – they've never undertaken anything so large before!
I've long said ARC needs MANY MORE staff, & should do more, not less.
This seems ridiculous when they're about to completely overhaul the entire grants system – they've never undertaken anything so large before!
I've long said ARC needs MANY MORE staff, & should do more, not less.
Excellent news - Australia is finally getting an AI safety institute.
Bravo! Australia to establish AI safety institute www.innovationaus.com/australia-to...
Australia to establish AI safety institute
The Albanese government will establish an AI Safety Institute to assess the risks from emerging artificial intelligence systems and help safeguard Australians from potential harms. Industry minister T...
www.innovationaus.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Excellent news - Australia is finally getting an AI safety institute.
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
This is utterly outrageous by the Group of Eight unis, and deeply insulting and undermining for environment and climate experts trying their hardest to achieve a more sustainable future for society. Shameful stuff.
1/ No surpirise that Business Council of Australia's leading the charge for further regressive changes to Watt's already regressive EPBC package
But 🤯 that the Group of 8 Unis (ANU, Monash, UAdelaide, UMelb, UNSW, USyd, UQ, UWA) have signed the 'Letter from the Alliance of 26 industry Groups' 🤬🤬🤬
But 🤯 that the Group of 8 Unis (ANU, Monash, UAdelaide, UMelb, UNSW, USyd, UQ, UWA) have signed the 'Letter from the Alliance of 26 industry Groups' 🤬🤬🤬
Alliance of Industry Groups: Letter on EPBC - Business Council of Australia
www.bca.com.au
November 21, 2025 at 5:30 AM
This is utterly outrageous by the Group of Eight unis, and deeply insulting and undermining for environment and climate experts trying their hardest to achieve a more sustainable future for society. Shameful stuff.
Good to see some new empirical work on MORL. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.16476
arxiv.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Good to see some new empirical work on MORL. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.16476
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
#CSIROcuts
A DMer has reported that researchers working in areas Minister Ayers said would be cut (nutrition) first found this out via media reports of the Minister’s statements.
It wasn’t ’til the following day that CSIRO told them their specific area would be targeted.
Nice.
A DMer has reported that researchers working in areas Minister Ayers said would be cut (nutrition) first found this out via media reports of the Minister’s statements.
It wasn’t ’til the following day that CSIRO told them their specific area would be targeted.
Nice.
November 21, 2025 at 4:55 AM
#CSIROcuts
A DMer has reported that researchers working in areas Minister Ayers said would be cut (nutrition) first found this out via media reports of the Minister’s statements.
It wasn’t ’til the following day that CSIRO told them their specific area would be targeted.
Nice.
A DMer has reported that researchers working in areas Minister Ayers said would be cut (nutrition) first found this out via media reports of the Minister’s statements.
It wasn’t ’til the following day that CSIRO told them their specific area would be targeted.
Nice.
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
It was a three-man team that took the Grok hardpoint that day, and two of us were just there to guard the poet.Whistler was a sonnet slinger fresh from the Guatemalan meter wars, still waking up with the taste of a bloody metonym on his tongue.
November 20, 2025 at 8:29 PM
It was a three-man team that took the Grok hardpoint that day, and two of us were just there to guard the poet.Whistler was a sonnet slinger fresh from the Guatemalan meter wars, still waking up with the taste of a bloody metonym on his tongue.
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
And here's another. Sign all the petitions!
Save the CSIRO
Our national science & research agency is now facing more job cuts than under Tony Abbott
Call on the Albanese Govt to fund the scientists & research we need to tackle big issues we face from climate to food security and everything in between
www.davidpocock.com.au/save_our_csiro
Our national science & research agency is now facing more job cuts than under Tony Abbott
Call on the Albanese Govt to fund the scientists & research we need to tackle big issues we face from climate to food security and everything in between
www.davidpocock.com.au/save_our_csiro
November 19, 2025 at 10:51 AM
And here's another. Sign all the petitions!
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
A new tab on Google Scholar???
scholar.google.com/scholar_labs...
scholar.google.com/scholar_labs...
November 18, 2025 at 5:48 PM
A new tab on Google Scholar???
scholar.google.com/scholar_labs...
scholar.google.com/scholar_labs...
The week's off to a great start - by 9am I'd had a funding application rejected, and a desk reject of a paper. It's not so much the desk-reject that hurts, but the fact that the action editor's description of our paper is only about 50% accurate 😠
November 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The week's off to a great start - by 9am I'd had a funding application rejected, and a desk reject of a paper. It's not so much the desk-reject that hurts, but the fact that the action editor's description of our paper is only about 50% accurate 😠
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
PubPeer - An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platform...
There are comments on PubPeer for publication: An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platforms: the case of pubpeer (2025)
pubpeer.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:11 AM
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
November 6, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
I guess I should feel flattered that AI models keep hallucinating papers that I didn't actually write?
The latest example is "Where reinforcement learning meets process control" which I apparently co-authored with Kumar and Yu. #ADIPEC 1/n
The latest example is "Where reinforcement learning meets process control" which I apparently co-authored with Kumar and Yu. #ADIPEC 1/n
November 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
I guess I should feel flattered that AI models keep hallucinating papers that I didn't actually write?
The latest example is "Where reinforcement learning meets process control" which I apparently co-authored with Kumar and Yu. #ADIPEC 1/n
The latest example is "Where reinforcement learning meets process control" which I apparently co-authored with Kumar and Yu. #ADIPEC 1/n
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
A broken university system is letting Australia down https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/a-broken-university-system-is-letting-australia-down/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-broken-university-system-is-letting-australia-down #auspol
A broken university system is letting Australia down
Poor governance, poor policy and decades of neoliberalism have broken Australia’s university sector, with devastating consequences for students and the country.
australiainstitute.org.au
November 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
A broken university system is letting Australia down https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/a-broken-university-system-is-letting-australia-down/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-broken-university-system-is-letting-australia-down #auspol
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
@clarivate.com says it takes retractions into account when calculating its highly coveted researcher designations. But Qusay Hassan, who has had 21 papers retracted, was one of several scientists winning accolades at the ministry’s Iraq Education Conference 2025 in Baghdad earlier this month.
Exclusive: Web of Science company involved in dubious awards in Iraq
Hayder A. Dhahad, Iraq’s deputy minister for scientific research affairs, speaks at an awards ceremony at the country’s Science Day celebration. Source: Instagram In the string of prestigious…
retractionwatch.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:08 AM
@clarivate.com says it takes retractions into account when calculating its highly coveted researcher designations. But Qusay Hassan, who has had 21 papers retracted, was one of several scientists winning accolades at the ministry’s Iraq Education Conference 2025 in Baghdad earlier this month.
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
New #J2C Certification:
Demonstration-Guided Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning
Junlin Lu, Patrick Mannion, Karl Mason
https://openreview.net/forum?id=FQAgFgkaFG
#reinforcement #demonstrations #objective
Demonstration-Guided Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning
Junlin Lu, Patrick Mannion, Karl Mason
https://openreview.net/forum?id=FQAgFgkaFG
#reinforcement #demonstrations #objective
October 26, 2025 at 12:23 AM
New #J2C Certification:
Demonstration-Guided Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning
Junlin Lu, Patrick Mannion, Karl Mason
https://openreview.net/forum?id=FQAgFgkaFG
#reinforcement #demonstrations #objective
Demonstration-Guided Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning
Junlin Lu, Patrick Mannion, Karl Mason
https://openreview.net/forum?id=FQAgFgkaFG
#reinforcement #demonstrations #objective
I'm feeling much more organised after tidying up my office yesterday. I finally have all my ducks in a row.
October 26, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I'm feeling much more organised after tidying up my office yesterday. I finally have all my ducks in a row.
Congratulations to @ffelten.bsky.social whose thesis on multi-objective reinforcement learning was deservedly awarded the Luxembourg National Research Fund's Outstanding PhD Thesis Award 🏆
As a side-benefit, we get this great accessible introduction to MORL video: youtu.be/VEXRuhJDkoA
As a side-benefit, we get this great accessible introduction to MORL video: youtu.be/VEXRuhJDkoA
FNR Awards 2025: Outstanding PhD Thesis - Florian Felten
YouTube video by FNRLux
youtu.be
October 26, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Congratulations to @ffelten.bsky.social whose thesis on multi-objective reinforcement learning was deservedly awarded the Luxembourg National Research Fund's Outstanding PhD Thesis Award 🏆
As a side-benefit, we get this great accessible introduction to MORL video: youtu.be/VEXRuhJDkoA
As a side-benefit, we get this great accessible introduction to MORL video: youtu.be/VEXRuhJDkoA
It's been 8 months since I notified @springernature.com of a clear-cut case of fake references in a book chapter which they published. They have still not taken any action as they claim to still be investigating.
I will not review for Springer again until this matter is satisfactorily resolved.
I will not review for Springer again until this matter is satisfactorily resolved.
October 21, 2025 at 11:27 AM
It's been 8 months since I notified @springernature.com of a clear-cut case of fake references in a book chapter which they published. They have still not taken any action as they claim to still be investigating.
I will not review for Springer again until this matter is satisfactorily resolved.
I will not review for Springer again until this matter is satisfactorily resolved.
Hey @springernature.com. What was the point in me setting my status to Paused on the Reviewer Dashboard yesterday if you're going to send me another review today anyway? Not to mention that paper was 99% unrelated to my area of research. Don't turn into MDPI.
October 20, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Hey @springernature.com. What was the point in me setting my status to Paused on the Reviewer Dashboard yesterday if you're going to send me another review today anyway? Not to mention that paper was 99% unrelated to my area of research. Don't turn into MDPI.
Reposted by Peter Vamplew
The viral "Definition of AGI" paper tells you to read fake references which do not exist!
Proof: different articles present at the specified journal/volume/page number, and their titles exist nowhere on any searchable repository.
Take this as a warning to not use LMs to generate your references!
Proof: different articles present at the specified journal/volume/page number, and their titles exist nowhere on any searchable repository.
Take this as a warning to not use LMs to generate your references!
October 18, 2025 at 12:54 AM
The viral "Definition of AGI" paper tells you to read fake references which do not exist!
Proof: different articles present at the specified journal/volume/page number, and their titles exist nowhere on any searchable repository.
Take this as a warning to not use LMs to generate your references!
Proof: different articles present at the specified journal/volume/page number, and their titles exist nowhere on any searchable repository.
Take this as a warning to not use LMs to generate your references!
Is anyone else on Overleaf's free plan? Have you had issues with compile time-outs? I gather that the time-limit for compilation on the free plan was cut in Aug, but it's only in the last few days that I've had problems. Today I can't even compile a 2-page document with no tables or figures.
October 16, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Is anyone else on Overleaf's free plan? Have you had issues with compile time-outs? I gather that the time-limit for compilation on the free plan was cut in Aug, but it's only in the last few days that I've had problems. Today I can't even compile a 2-page document with no tables or figures.
Dear Benjamin,
Congrats on being the fastest scammy conference organiser of all time. Inviting me to a conference unrelated to the topic of my paper is highly questionable, but you did it within a day of publication so at least you’re fast.
Kindly remove me from your mailing list.
Regards,
Peter
Congrats on being the fastest scammy conference organiser of all time. Inviting me to a conference unrelated to the topic of my paper is highly questionable, but you did it within a day of publication so at least you’re fast.
Kindly remove me from your mailing list.
Regards,
Peter
October 8, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Dear Benjamin,
Congrats on being the fastest scammy conference organiser of all time. Inviting me to a conference unrelated to the topic of my paper is highly questionable, but you did it within a day of publication so at least you’re fast.
Kindly remove me from your mailing list.
Regards,
Peter
Congrats on being the fastest scammy conference organiser of all time. Inviting me to a conference unrelated to the topic of my paper is highly questionable, but you did it within a day of publication so at least you’re fast.
Kindly remove me from your mailing list.
Regards,
Peter
Computer says sorry?
After months in copy-editing hell, Haddie Harland's review of AI apology research is now available: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This is a must read for anyone interested in how AI systems can effectively and appropriately use apologies to facilitate human interaction 1/2
After months in copy-editing hell, Haddie Harland's review of AI apology research is now available: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This is a must read for anyone interested in how AI systems can effectively and appropriately use apologies to facilitate human interaction 1/2
AI apology: a critical review of apology in AI systems - Artificial Intelligence Review
Apologies are a powerful tool used in human-human interactions to provide affective support, regulate social processes, and exchange information following a trust violation. The emerging field of AI apology investigates the use of apologies by artificially intelligent systems, with recent research suggesting how this tool may provide similar value in human-machine interactions. Until recently, contributions to this area were sparse, and these works have yet to be synthesised into a cohesive body of knowledge. This article provides the first synthesis and critical analysis of the state of AI apology research, focusing on studies published between 2020 and 2023. We derive a framework of attributes to describe five core elements of apology: outcome, interaction, offence, recipient, and offender. With this framework as the basis for our critique, we show how apologies can be used to recover from misalignment in human-AI interactions, and examine trends and inconsistencies within the field. Among the observations, we outline the importance of curating a human-aligned and cross-disciplinary perspective in this research, with consideration for improved system capabilities and long-term outcomes.
link.springer.com
October 6, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Computer says sorry?
After months in copy-editing hell, Haddie Harland's review of AI apology research is now available: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This is a must read for anyone interested in how AI systems can effectively and appropriately use apologies to facilitate human interaction 1/2
After months in copy-editing hell, Haddie Harland's review of AI apology research is now available: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This is a must read for anyone interested in how AI systems can effectively and appropriately use apologies to facilitate human interaction 1/2