The algorithm selection competitions 2015 and 2017

The algorithm selection problem is to choose the most suitable algorithm for solving a given problem instance. It leverages the complementarity between different approaches that is present in many areas of AI. We report on the state of the art in algorithm selection, as defined by the Algorithm Selection competitions in 2015 and 2017. The results of these competitions show how the state of the art improved over the years. We show that although performance in some cases is very good, there is still room for improvement in other cases. Finally, we provide insights into why some scenarios are hard, and pose challenges to the community on how to advance the current state of the art.

Authors

• Marius Lindauer Institute of Artificial Intelligence L3S Research Center Leibniz University Hannover
• Jan N. van Rijn Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University
• Lars Kotthoff University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

Keywords

• Algorithm Selection
• Meta-Learning
• Competition Analysis