# Deep Epistemic Value Functions for Optimistic Exploration

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.35525 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.35525/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in RL theory and sample complexity, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods.
- Builds on 59 of its 75 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Sep 2026.

## Placed in

- Deep reinforcement learning methods / [RL theory and sample complexity](https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/rl-theory-and-sample-complexity/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 59)

- [Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06347/) (2017)
- [Layer Normalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.06450/) (2016)
- [Soft Actor-Critic: Off-Policy Maximum Entropy Deep Reinforcement Learning with a Stochastic Actor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.01290/) (2018)
- [Dropout as a Bayesian Approximation: Representing Model Uncertainty in Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02142/) (2015)
- [Simple and Scalable Predictive Uncertainty Estimation using Deep Ensembles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.01474/) (2016)
- [Continuous control with deep reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1509.02971/) (2015)
- [Addressing Function Approximation Error in Actor-Critic Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.09477/) (2018)
- [Asynchronous Methods for Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.01783/) (2016)
- [Can You Trust Your Model's Uncertainty? Evaluating Predictive Uncertainty Under Dataset Shift](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02530/) (2019)
- [Mastering Diverse Domains through World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.04104/) (2023)
- [Curiosity-driven Exploration by Self-supervised Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.05363/) (2017)
- [Exploration by Random Network Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.12894/) (2018)
- [DeepMind Control Suite](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.00690/) (2018)
- [Aleatoric and Epistemic Uncertainty in Machine Learning: An Introduction to Concepts and Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.09457/) (2019)
- [A Review of Uncertainty Quantification in Deep Learning: Techniques, Applications and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.06225/) (2020)
- [Deep Reinforcement Learning at the Edge of the Statistical Precipice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.13264/) (2021)
- [Unifying Count-Based Exploration and Intrinsic Motivation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.01868/) (2016)
- [A Simple Baseline for Bayesian Uncertainty in Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.02476/) (2019)
- [Deep Exploration via Bootstrapped DQN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.04621/) (2016)
- [Minimax Regret Bounds for Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.05449/) (2017)
- [A Tutorial on Thompson Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.02038/) (2017)
- [Brax -- A Differentiable Physics Engine for Large Scale Rigid Body Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.13281/) (2021)
- [Planning to Explore via Self-Supervised World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.05960/) (2020)
- [Probabilistic Backpropagation for Scalable Learning of Bayesian Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.05336/) (2015)
- [Challenges of Real-World Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.12901/) (2019)
- [Randomized Ensembled Double Q-Learning: Learning Fast Without a Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.05982/) (2021)
- [Noisy Networks for Exploration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.10295/) (2017)
- [Self-Supervised Exploration via Disagreement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.04161/) (2019)
- [Count-Based Exploration with Neural Density Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.01310/) (2017)
- [The Primacy Bias in Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.07802/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Principled exploration in reinforcement learning requires an agent to quantify its epistemic uncertainty and act to resolve it. Uncertainty over the value function provides a natural signal for exploration, yet existing deep approximations remain brittle and perform inconsistently. The central challenge is therefore to scale these ideas robustly. We conduct a systematic empirical study of how epistemic uncertainty is represented, propagated, and optimized in deep epistemic value functions, and uncover distinct failure modes along each of these axes. These findings motivate DEVOTE, a model-free reinforcement learning algorithm that controls how uncertainty generalizes beyond observed data, stabilizes its temporal propagation, and preserves adaptation to the resulting non-stationary exploration objective. Across reward-free exploration and challenging continuous-control tasks, DEVOTE reaches novel states more effectively and achieves higher task return than strong model-free and model-based exploration baselines. These results provide evidence that deep epistemic value functions are a promising path toward scalable, principled exploration.