Counterfactual Task-Augmented Meta-Learning for Cold-Start Sequential Recommendation

Abstract

Cold-start sequential recommendation, where user interaction histories are sparse or minimal, remains a significant challenge in recommendation systems. Current meta-learning-based approaches rely heavily on the interaction histories of regular users to construct meta-tasks, aiming to acquire prior knowledge for cold-start adaptation. However, these methods often fail to account for preference discrepancies between regular and cold-start users, leading to biased preference modeling and suboptimal recommendations. To address this issue, we propose a novel counterfactual task-augmented meta-learning method for cold-start sequential recommendations. Our approach intervenes in user interaction histories to create counterfactual sequences that simulate potential but unrealized user behaviors, establishing counterfactual tasks within a meta-learning framework. Additionally, we aggregate meta-path neighbors to uncover latent relationships between items, enabling more detailed and accurate modeling of user preferences. Moreover, by integrating real and counterfactual task losses, we jointly optimize the model through a combination of global and local updates, enhancing its adaptability to cold-start scenarios. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms existing state-of-the-art techniques, achieving superior results in cold-start sequential recommendation tasks.