MVIGER: Multi-View Variational Integration of Complementary Knowledge for Generative Recommender
Abstract
Language Models (LMs) have been widely used in recommender systems to incorporate textual information of items into item IDs, leveraging their advanced language understanding and generation capabilities. Recently, generative recommender systems have utilized the reasoning abilities of LMs to directly generate index tokens for potential items of interest based on the user's interaction history. To inject diverse item knowledge into LMs, prompt templates with detailed task descriptions and various indexing techniques derived from diverse item information have been explored. This paper focuses on the inconsistency in outputs generated by variations in input prompt templates and item index types, even with the same user's interaction history. Our in-depth quantitative analysis reveals that preference knowledge learned from diverse prompt templates and heterogeneous indices differs significantly, indicating a high potential for complementarity. To fully exploit this complementarity and provide consistent performance under varying prompts and item indices, we propose MVIGER, a unified variational framework that models selection among these information sources as a categorical latent variable with a learnable prior. During inference, this prior enables the model to adaptively select the most relevant source or aggregate predictions across multiple sources, thereby ensuring high-quality recommendation across diverse template-index combinations. We validate the effectiveness of MVIGER on three real-world datasets, demonstrating its superior performance over existing generative recommender baselines through the effective integration of complementary knowledge.
Assigned reviewers
| # | Reviewer | Match | Why (closest evidence publications in the taxonomy) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Han Li 0005 | 55 | 76 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 74 DualGR: Generative Retrieval with Long and Short-Term Interests Modeling (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 74 Making Transformer Decoders Better Differentiable Indexers (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking |
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| 2 | Yongqi Li 0001 | 51 | 79 Efficient Inference for Large Language Model-based Generative Recommendation (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 79 EARN: Efficient Inference Acceleration for LLM-based Generative Recommendation by Register Tokens (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 73 Bridging Items and Language: A Transition Paradigm for Large Language Model-Based Recommendation (2024) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 3 | Julian J. McAuley | 46 | 75 Inductive Generative Recommendation via Retrieval-based Speculation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 73 Multi-Behavior Generative Recommendation (2024) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 54 Towards Large Generative Recommendation: A Tokenization Perspective (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs |
Area chair
| Area chair | Match | |
|---|---|---|
| Maolin Wang 0001 | 46 |
Area-chair candidates (5)
| Maolin Wang 0001 assigned | 46 | 15 papers | |
| Xiaoyi Zeng | 46 | 11 papers | |
| Pengyue Jia | 45 | 10 papers | |
| Weiming Liu 0005 | 44 | 8 papers | |
| Jun Xu 0001 | 44 | 2 papers |
Candidates from the panel ranked by match score
| # | Reviewer | Match | Load | Why | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhengyi Yang 0007 | 56 | 3 | 67 A Bi-Step Grounding Paradigm for Large Language Models in Recommendation Systems (2025) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization 60 Large Language Model Can Interpret Latent Space of Sequential Recommender (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 2 | Han Li 0005 assigned | 55 | 3 | 76 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 74 DualGR: Generative Retrieval with Long and Short-Term Interests Modeling (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking |
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| 3 | Bo Chen 0023 | 55 | 3 | 73 Generative Representational Learning of Foundation Models for Recommendation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 61 ReLLa: Retrieval-enhanced Large Language Models for Lifelong Sequential Behavior Comprehension in Recommendation (2024) Sequential and Session-based Recommendation |
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| 4 | Yang Zhang 0072 | 55 | 3 | 67 IGD: Token Decisiveness Modeling via Information Gain in LLMs for Personalized Recommendation (2025) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization 67 Decoding Matters: Addressing Amplification Bias and Homogeneity Issue in Recommendations for Large Language Models (2024) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 5 | Bowen Zheng 0005 | 53 | 3 | 63 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 60 Adapting Large Language Models by Integrating Collaborative Semantics for Recommendation (2024) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 6 | Jizhi Zhang | 52 | 3 | 67 Learnable Item Tokenization for Generative Recommendation (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 67 Decoding Matters: Addressing Amplification Bias and Homogeneity Issue in Recommendations for Large Language Models (2024) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 7 | Huifeng Guo | 52 | 3 | 75 Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Unifying Retrieval and Ranking with a Single Generative Recommendation Model (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 65 LLMTreeRec: Unleashing the Power of Large Language Models for Cold-Start Recommendations (2025) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 8 | Jieming Zhu | 51 | 3 | 65 EAGER: Two-Stream Generative Recommender with Behavior-Semantic Collaboration (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 60 Efficient and Deployable Knowledge Infusion for Open-World Recommendations via Large Language Models (2026) Knowledge Infusion and Open-World Augmentation |
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| 9 | Hao Deng 0011 | 51 | 3 | 74 RCLRec: Reverse Curriculum Learning for Modeling Sparse Conversions in Generative Recommendation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 65 REG4Rec: Reasoning-Enhanced Generative Model for Large-Scale Recommendation Systems (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs |
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| 10 | Yongqi Li 0001 assigned | 51 | 3 | 79 Efficient Inference for Large Language Model-based Generative Recommendation (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 79 EARN: Efficient Inference Acceleration for LLM-based Generative Recommendation by Register Tokens (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking |
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| 11 | Xuanhua Yang | 50 | 3 | 76 GenRec: A Preference-Oriented Generative Framework for Large-Scale Recommendation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 59 Breaking the Relevance-Diversity Seesaw: Hierarchical LLM Reasoning with RL for Industrial Novelty Recommendation (2026) Preference Alignment and Optimization |
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| 12 | Yupeng Hou | 50 | 3 | 66 Inductive Generative Recommendation via Retrieval-based Speculation (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 65 Multi-Behavior Generative Recommendation (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs |
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| 13 | Chongming Gao | 49 | 3 | 64 DLCRec: A Novel Approach for Managing Diversity in LLM-Based Recommender Systems (2025) Preference Alignment and Optimization 64 MGFRec: Towards Reinforced Reasoning Recommendation with Multiple Groundings and Feedback (2026) Preference Alignment and Optimization |
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| 14 | Qijiong Liu | 49 | 3 | 70 Full Retraining, Incremental Fine-tuning, and Hybrid Serving: Model Updating and Serving for Industrial Generative Recommender Systems (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 60 ONCE: Boosting Content-based Recommendation with Both Open- and Closed-source Large Language Models (2024) LLM-Derived Knowledge Infusion |
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| 15 | Ed H. Chi | 48 | 3 | 78 PLUM: Adapting Pre-trained Language Models for Industrial-scale Generative Recommendations (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 76 Recommender Systems with Generative Retrieval (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs |
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| 16 | Wei Guo 0006 | 48 | 3 | 75 Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Unifying Retrieval and Ranking with a Single Generative Recommendation Model (2025) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 70 Full Retraining, Incremental Fine-tuning, and Hybrid Serving: Model Updating and Serving for Industrial Generative Recommender Systems (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking |
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| 17 | Junjie Zhang 0009 | 47 | 3 | 74 Generative Next-Basket Recommendation (2023) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 53 Tapping the Potential of Large Language Models as Recommender Systems: A Comprehensive Framework and Empirical Analysis (2025) Efficiency and Deployment |
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| 18 | Wei Wei 0027 | 47 | 3 | 54 LLMRec: Large Language Models with Graph Augmentation for Recommendation (2024) Graph Pretraining and Foundation Models 51 GraphGPT: Graph Instruction Tuning for Large Language Models (2024) KG-Augmented LLM Reasoning |
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| 19 | Yongxin Ni | 47 | 3 | 53 Where to Go Next for Recommender Systems? ID- vs. Modality-based Recommender Models Revisited (2023) Multimodal Generative Recommendation 52 Online Distillation-enhanced Multi-modal Transformer for Sequential Recommendation (2023) Multimodal Generative Recommendation |
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| 20 | Julian J. McAuley assigned | 46 | 3 | 75 Inductive Generative Recommendation via Retrieval-based Speculation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 73 Multi-Behavior Generative Recommendation (2024) Generative Retrieval and Ranking |
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| 21 | Lantao Hu | 46 | 3 | 76 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 53 Distinguished Quantized Guidance for Diffusion-based Sequence Recommendation (2025) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders |
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| 22 | Shuchang Liu 0001 | 46 | 3 | 61 DLCRec: A Novel Approach for Managing Diversity in LLM-Based Recommender Systems (2025) Preference Alignment and Optimization 58 Recommendation as Language Processing (RLP): A Unified Pretrain, Personalized Prompt & Predict Paradigm (P5) (2022) Knowledge Infusion and Open-World Augmentation |
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| 23 | Lichan Hong | 46 | 3 | 78 PLUM: Adapting Pre-trained Language Models for Industrial-scale Generative Recommendations (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization 63 Recommender Systems with Generative Retrieval (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs |
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| 25 | Yu Zhang 0206 | 46 | 3 | 74 RCLRec: Reverse Curriculum Learning for Modeling Sparse Conversions in Generative Recommendation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 67 MMQ: Multimodal Mixture-of-Quantization Tokenization for Semantic ID Generation and User Behavioral Adaptation (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 26 | Yang Song 0008 | 46 | 3 | 58 Large Language Models Enhanced Collaborative Filtering (2024) LLM-Enhanced Collaborative Filtering 49 GenSAR: Unifying Balanced Search and Recommendation with Generative Retrieval (2025) Recommendation with Search and Ranking |
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| 27 | Junwei Pan | 46 | 3 | 67 Incremental Learning for LLM-based Tokenization and Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 64 Empowering Large Language Model for Sequential Recommendation via Multimodal Embeddings and Semantic IDs (2025) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization |
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| 29 | Jinxin Hu | 46 | 3 | 74 RCLRec: Reverse Curriculum Learning for Modeling Sparse Conversions in Generative Recommendation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking 66 REG4Rec: Reasoning-Enhanced Generative Model for Large-Scale Recommendation Systems (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs |
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| 30 | Qiang Luo 0004 | 46 | 3 | 63 OneLoc: Geo-Aware Generative Recommender Systems for Local Life Service (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs 51 DiffGRM: Diffusion-based Generative Recommendation Model (2026) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders |
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| 31 | Jianling Wang | 46 | 3 | 60 Fresh Content Recommendation at Scale: A Multi-funnel Solution and the Potential of LLMs (2024) Efficiency and Deployment 48 A Hierarchical Self-Attentive Model for Recommending User-Generated Item Lists (2019) Efficient and Long-Sequence Sequential Recommendation |
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| 32 | Xiao Zhang 0034 | 45 | 3 | 61 Large Language Models Enhanced Collaborative Filtering (2024) Preference Alignment and Optimization 50 MoRE: A Mixture of Reflectors Framework for Large Language Model-Based Sequential Recommendation (2025) Sequential and Session-based Recommendation |