Csaba Szepesvári: ICLR reviewer bidding has become all-negative, no shades of grey
CsabaSzepesvari · x · 2026-09-26
Reinforcement learning researcher Csaba Szepesvári complains that ICLR bidding has become completely negative: reviewers can only choose between "not willing" and "not not willing", with no grades or shades of grey.
He argues the design effectively forces reviewers to express rejection after rejection, stripping out any signal of genuine interest, and questions the sanity of the current bidding system. The post touches on broader concerns about peer-review workflow design at top AI conferences.
Related event: RL Researcher Criticizes ICLR Review Bidding for Negative-Only Options(2 posts)→
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