Statistical relational models such as Markov logic networks (MLNs) and hinge-loss Markov random fields (HL-MRFs) are specified using templated weighted first-order logic clauses, leading to the creation of complex, yet easy to encode models that effectively combine uncertainty and logic. Learning the structure of these models from data reduces the human effort of identifying the right structures. In this work, we present an asynchronous deep reinforcement learning algorithm to automatically learn HL-MRF clause structures. Our algorithm possesses the ability to learn semantically meaningful structures that appeal to human intuition and understanding, while simultaneously being able to learn structures from data, thus learning structures that have both the desirable qualities of interpretability and good prediction performance. The asynchronous nature of our algorithm further provides the ability to learn diverse structures via exploration, while remaining scalable. We demonstrate the ability of the models to learn semantically meaningful structures that also achieve better prediction performance when compared with a greedy search algorithm, a path-based algorithm, and manually defined clauses on two computational social science applications: i) modeling recovery in alcohol use disorder, and ii) detecting bullying.
Learning Interpretable Relational Structures of Hinge-loss Markov Random Fields