mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Bayesian Optimization in AlphaGo

arXiv 1812.06855 ↗First posted 17 Dec 2018cs.LG cs.AI stat.MLcited by 55

Not on the map. Why?

Abstract (arXiv)

During the development of AlphaGo, its many hyper-parameters were tuned with Bayesian optimization multiple times. This automatic tuning process resulted in substantial improvements in playing strength. For example, prior to the match with Lee Sedol, we tuned the latest AlphaGo agent and this improved its win-rate from 50% to 66.5% in self-play games. This tuned version was deployed in the final match. Of course, since we tuned AlphaGo many times during its development cycle, the compounded contribution was even higher than this percentage. It is our hope that this brief case study will be of interest to Go fans, and also provide Bayesian optimization practitioners with some insights and inspiration.

Key facts. Cited by 55 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 17 Dec 2018.

Builds on

No reference list yet.

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 13; 2022: 12; 2023: 14; 2024: 7; 2025: 6; 2026: 3.

55 papers.

Sort:

By area:

  1. 2021Well-tuned Simple Nets Excel on Tabular Datasetscited by 151
  2. 2023Tree-Structured Parzen Estimator: Understanding Its Algorithm Components and Their Roles for Better Empirical Performancecited by 147
  3. 2022Automated Reinforcement Learning (AutoRL): A Survey and Open Problemscited by 70
  4. 2022πBO: Augmenting Acquisition Functions with User Beliefs for Bayesian Optimizationcited by 70
  5. 2022Joint Entropy Search for Maximally-Informed Bayesian Optimizationcited by 55
  6. 2021GIBBON: General-purpose Information-Based Bayesian OptimisatioNcited by 47
  7. 2021Achieving on-Mobile Real-Time Super-Resolution with Neural Architecture and Pruning Searchcited by 34
  8. 2023PriorBand: Practical Hyperparameter Optimization in the Age of Deep Learningcited by 31
  9. 2021Active Offline Policy Selectioncited by 26
  10. 2023Self-Correcting Bayesian Optimization through Bayesian Active Learningcited by 22
  11. 2021Automatic Termination for Hyperparameter Optimizationcited by 21
  12. 2022Bayesian Generational Population-Based Trainingcited by 20
38 more
  1. 2021Risk-averse Heteroscedastic Bayesian Optimizationcited by 17
  2. 2023Can Fairness be Automated? Guidelines and Opportunities for Fairness-aware AutoMLcited by 16
  3. 2023PED-ANOVA: Efficiently Quantifying Hyperparameter Importance in Arbitrary Subspacescited by 15
  4. 2024Position: A Call to Action for a Human-Centered AutoML Paradigmcited by 14
  5. 2024Bayesian Optimization via Continual Variational Last Layer Trainingcited by 13
  6. 2021Neural Process for Black-Box Model Optimization Under Bayesian Frameworkcited by 11
  7. 2022Automated Reinforcement Learning: An Overviewcited by 9
  8. 2022c-TPE: Tree-structured Parzen Estimator with Inequality Constraints for Expensive Hyperparameter Optimizationcited by 9
  9. 2023OpenBox: A Python Toolkit for Generalized Black-box Optimizationcited by 9
  10. 2021Tuning Mixed Input Hyperparameters on the Fly for Efficient Population Based AutoRLcited by 8
  11. 2024Scalable Bayesian Optimization via Focalized Sparse Gaussian Processescited by 8
  12. 2021Automatic Mapping of the Best-Suited DNN Pruning Schemes for Real-Time Mobile Accelerationcited by 7
  13. 2022Event-Triggered Time-Varying Bayesian Optimizationcited by 7
  14. 2022Speeding Up Multi-Objective Hyperparameter Optimization by Task Similarity-Based Meta-Learning for the Tree-Structured Parzen Estimatorcited by 7
  15. 2021Episodic Policy Gradient Trainingcited by 5
  16. 2022Bayesian Optimization For Multi-Objective Mixed-Variable Problemscited by 5
  17. 2023High-dimensional Bayesian Optimization with Group Testingcited by 5
  18. 2021Mixed Variable Bayesian Optimization with Frequency Modulated Kernelscited by 4
  19. 2023Dynamic Update-to-Data Ratio: Minimizing World Model Overfittingcited by 4
  20. 2023Python Tool for Visualizing Variability of Pareto Fronts over Multiple Runscited by 4
  21. 2024Generalized Population-Based Training for Hyperparameter Optimization in Reinforcement Learningcited by 4
  22. 2025Put CASH on Bandits: A Max K-Armed Problem for Automated Machine Learningcited by 4
  23. 2022Optimization of the Shape of a Hydrokinetic Turbine's Draft Tube and Hub Assembly Using Design-by-Morphing with Bayesian Optimizationcited by 3
  24. 2023Stochastic Bayesian Optimization with Unknown Continuous Context Distribution via Kernel Density Estimationcited by 3
  25. 2024Adaptive Q-Network: On-the-fly Target Selection for Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
  26. 2024A Human-in-the-Loop Fairness-Aware Model Selection Framework for Complex Fairness Objective Landscapescited by 3
  27. 2021Achieving Real-Time Object Detection on MobileDevices with Neural Pruning Searchcited by 2
  28. 2023Python Wrapper for Simulating Multi-Fidelity Optimization on HPO Benchmarks without Any Waitcited by 2
  29. 2025Leveraging Axis-Aligned Subspaces for High-Dimensional Bayesian Optimization with Group Testingcited by 2
  30. 2022Practitioner Motives to Use Different Hyperparameter Optimization Methodscited by 1
  31. 2022Improving Multi-fidelity Optimization with a Recurring Learning Rate for Hyperparameter Tuningcited by 1
  32. 2024A Bayesian Approach to Online Planningcited by 1
  33. 2021Automatic tuning of hyper-parameters of reinforcement learning algorithms using Bayesian optimization with behavioral cloningcited by 0
  34. 2023Applications of Gaussian Processes at Extreme Lengthscales: From Molecules to Black Holescited by 0
  35. 2023Bayesian Optimization Meets Self-Distillationcited by 0
  36. 2023Identification of stormwater control strategies and their associated uncertainties using Bayesian Optimizationcited by 0
  37. 2025HyperController: A Hyperparameter Controller for Fast and Stable Training of Reinforcement Learning Neural Networkscited by 0
  38. 2025BOOST: A Data-Driven Framework for the Automated Joint Selection of Kernel and Acquisition Functions in Bayesian Optimizationcited by 0

50 most cited of 55 All 55 (JSON)