Actor-Critic — A2C and A3C
REINFORCE is noisy. Add a critic that learns `V̂(s)`, subtract it from the return, and you get an advantage that has the same expectation but far lower variance. That is actor-critic. A2C runs it synchronously; A3C runs it across threads. Both are the mental model for every modern deep-RL method.
Visual edition planned
This lesson isn’t interactive yet.
It is part of the curriculum and will get the same treatment as Phase 1 — a visual cover, hands-on labs, derivations with numeric checks and a quiz. Until then, the original lesson is the best place to read it:
Part of Phase 09 — Reinforcement Learning. Use the previous / next cards below to keep browsing the phase.