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Differentiable Semantic ID for Generative Recommendation

sigir26-117 · Full research paper · Junchen Fu, Xuri Ge, Alexandros Karatzoglou, Ioannis Arapakis, Suzan Verberne, Joemon M. Jose, Zhaochun Ren
Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs · 50% Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs · 50%
Abstract

Generative recommendation provides a novel paradigm in which each item is represented by a discrete semantic ID (SID) learned from rich content. Most methods treat SIDs as predefined and train recommenders under static indexing. In practice, SIDs are optimized only for content reconstruction rather than recommendation accuracy. This leads to an objective mismatch : the system optimizes an indexing loss to learn the SID, and a recommendation loss for interaction prediction, but because the tokenizer is trained independently, the recommendation loss cannot update it. A natural approach is to make semantic indexing differentiable so recommendation gradients can directly influence SID learning, but this often causes codebook collapse with only a few codes used. We attribute this to early deterministic assignments that limit codebook exploration, leading to imbalance and unstable optimization. In this paper, we therefore propose DIGER (Differentiable Semantic ID for GEnerative Recommendation). DIGER is a first step towards an effective differentiable semantic ID for generative recommendation. The Gumbel noise explicitly encourages early-stage exploration over codes, mitigating collapse and improving code utilization. To better balance exploration and convergence, we introduce two uncertainty decay strategies that reduce the Gumbel noise, enabling a gradual shift from early-stage exploration to the exploitation of learned SIDs. Extensive experiments across multiple public datasets demonstrate consistent improvements from differentiable semantic ID. These results confirm the effectiveness of aligning indexing and recommendation objectives through differentiable SIDs. This identifies differentiable SID as a promising area of study. Our code is released under https://github.com/junchen-fu/DIGER.

Assigned reviewers

#ReviewerMatchWhy (closest evidence publications in the taxonomy)
1 Hao Deng 0011
59
77 MMQ: Multimodal Mixture-of-Quantization Tokenization for Semantic ID Generation and User Behavioral Adaptation (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
73 HeterRec: Heterogeneous Information Transformer for Scalable Sequential Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
69 REG4Rec: Reasoning-Enhanced Generative Model for Large-Scale Recommendation Systems (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
2 Jieming Zhu
57
100 CoST: Contrastive Quantization based Semantic Tokenization for Generative Recommendation (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
100 UNGER: Generative Recommendation with A Unified Code via Semantic and Collaborative Integration (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
100 Learning Multi-aspect Item Palette: A Semantic Tokenization Framework for Generative Recommendation (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
3 Lichan Hong
50
100 Better Generalization with Semantic IDs: A Case Study in Ranking for Recommendations (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
77 Recommender Systems with Generative Retrieval (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
62 PLUM: Adapting Pre-trained Language Models for Industrial-scale Generative Recommendations (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization

Area chair

Area chairMatch
Xiaoyi Zeng 50
Area-chair candidates (5)
Xiaoyi Zeng assigned 5011 papers
Weiming Liu 0005 448 papers
Maolin Wang 0001 4415 papers
Leyu Lin 4315 papers
Kun Gai 425 papers

Candidates from the panel ranked by match score

#ReviewerMatchLoadWhy
1 Hao Deng 0011 assigned 59 3
77 MMQ: Multimodal Mixture-of-Quantization Tokenization for Semantic ID Generation and User Behavioral Adaptation (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
73 HeterRec: Heterogeneous Information Transformer for Scalable Sequential Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
2 Jieming Zhu assigned 57 3
100 CoST: Contrastive Quantization based Semantic Tokenization for Generative Recommendation (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
100 UNGER: Generative Recommendation with A Unified Code via Semantic and Collaborative Integration (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
3 Yupeng Hou 56 3
100 Towards Large Generative Recommendation: A Tokenization Perspective (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
85 Learning Vector-Quantized Item Representation for Transferable Sequential Recommenders (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
4 Qijiong Liu 53 3
100 CoST: Contrastive Quantization based Semantic Tokenization for Generative Recommendation (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
100 Learning Multi-aspect Item Palette: A Semantic Tokenization Framework for Generative Recommendation (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
5 Bowen Zheng 0005 53 3
85 Bridging Textual-Collaborative Gap through Semantic Codes for Sequential Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
77 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
7 Qiang Luo 0004 50 3
76 DiffGRM: Diffusion-based Generative Recommendation Model (2026) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders
64 OneLoc: Geo-Aware Generative Recommender Systems for Local Life Service (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
8 Lichan Hong assigned 50 3
100 Better Generalization with Semantic IDs: A Case Study in Ranking for Recommendations (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
77 Recommender Systems with Generative Retrieval (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
9 Jinxin Hu 50 3
85 HeterRec: Heterogeneous Information Transformer for Scalable Sequential Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
77 MMQ: Multimodal Mixture-of-Quantization Tokenization for Semantic ID Generation and User Behavioral Adaptation (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
10 Ed H. Chi 50 3
100 Better Generalization with Semantic IDs: A Case Study in Ranking for Recommendations (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
69 Recommender Systems with Generative Retrieval (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
11 Junwei Pan 47 3
71 Incremental Learning for LLM-based Tokenization and Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
56 Cross-Scale Collaboration between LLMs and Lightweight Sequential Recommenders with Domain-Specific Latent Reasoning (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
12 Lantao Hu 47 3
69 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
65 Distinguished Quantized Guidance for Diffusion-based Sequence Recommendation (2025) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders
13 Jiangxia Cao 46 3
53 A Multi-modal Modeling Framework for Cold-start Short-video Recommendation (2024) Multimodal Generative Recommendation
51 QARM: Quantitative Alignment Multi-Modal Recommendation at Kuaishou (2025) Multimodal Generative Recommendation
14 Ke Fei 46 3
64 Sharpness-Consistent Cross-Domain Recommendation for Cold-Start Items (2026) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
39 Stable and Adaptive Fusion for Multi-domain Multi-task Recommendation (2026) Multi-Scenario and Multi-Domain CTR Prediction
15 Yongxin Ni COI: co-author 46 3
51 Bridging the Gap: Teacher-Assisted Wasserstein Knowledge Distillation for Efficient Multi-Modal Recommendation (2025) Multimodal Generative Recommendation
51 Frequency-Decoupled Distillation for Efficient Multimodal Recommendation (2025) Multimodal Generative Recommendation
16 Zhengyi Yang 0007 46 3
53 A Bi-Step Grounding Paradigm for Large Language Models in Recommendation Systems (2025) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
53 Large Language Model Can Interpret Latent Space of Sequential Recommender (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
17 Yu Zhang 0206 45 3
68 HeterRec: Heterogeneous Information Transformer for Scalable Sequential Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
62 MMQ: Multimodal Mixture-of-Quantization Tokenization for Semantic ID Generation and User Behavioral Adaptation (2026) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
18 Jiancan Wu 45 3
100 Towards Large Generative Recommendation: A Tokenization Perspective (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
46 Large Language Model Can Interpret Latent Space of Sequential Recommender (2026) Sequential and Session-based Recommendation
19 Han Li 0005 45 3
69 Generative Recommender with End-to-End Learnable Item Tokenization (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
47 DiffusionGS: Generative Search with Query Conditioned Diffusion in Kuaishou (2026) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders
20 Jie Jiang 0015 45 3
71 Incremental Learning for LLM-based Tokenization and Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
60 Empowering Large Language Model for Sequential Recommendation via Multimodal Embeddings and Semantic IDs (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
21 Jizhi Zhang 45 3
73 Learnable Item Tokenization for Generative Recommendation (2024) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
53 Decoding Matters: Addressing Amplification Bias and Homogeneity Issue in Recommendations for Large Language Models (2024) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
23 Hao Liu 0078 44 3
47 Mitigating Distribution Shifts in Sequential Recommendation: An Invariance Perspective (2025) Contrastive and Self-Supervised Sequential Recommendation
45 DA-DAN: A Dual Adversarial Domain Adaption Network for Unsupervised Non-overlapping Cross-domain Recommendation (2024) Domain Adaptation and Disentangled Representation for CDR
24 Yong He 0009 44 3
48 Task Similarity Aware Meta Learning for Cold-Start Recommendation (2022) Meta-Learning for Cold-Start Recommendation
47 An Industrial Framework for Cold-Start Recommendation in Zero-Shot Scenarios (2022) Content and Attribute-Based Cold-Start Recommendation
25 Ke Wang 0038 44 3
48 LLM-Grounded Diffusion for Cross-Domain Recommendation (2025) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders
47 Multifaceted Relation-aware Meta-learning with Dual Customization for User Cold-start Recommendation (2023) Meta-Learning for Cold-Start Recommendation
26 Julian J. McAuley 44 3
76 Towards Large Generative Recommendation: A Tokenization Perspective (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
70 Learning Vector-Quantized Item Representation for Transferable Sequential Recommenders (2023) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
28 Bo Chen 0023 COI: co-author 43 3
55 Generative Representational Learning of Foundation Models for Recommendation (2026) Generative Retrieval and Ranking
45 DisCo: Towards Harmonious Disentanglement and Collaboration between Tabular and Semantic Space for Recommendation (2024) Text Embedding and Representation Learning
30 Yang Zhang 0072 43 3
53 IGD: Token Decisiveness Modeling via Information Gain in LLMs for Personalized Recommendation (2025) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
53 Decoding Matters: Addressing Amplification Bias and Homogeneity Issue in Recommendations for Large Language Models (2024) Generative Recommendation and Item Tokenization
31 Chunyang Wang 0001 43 3
48 Multifaceted Relation-aware Meta-learning with Dual Customization for User Cold-start Recommendation (2023) Domain Adaptation and Disentangled Representation for CDR
47 A Preference Learning Decoupling Framework for User Cold-Start Recommendation (2023) Meta-Learning for Cold-Start Recommendation
32 Shuchang Liu 0001 43 3
74 Distinguished Quantized Guidance for Diffusion-based Sequence Recommendation (2025) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders
52 Fading to Grow: Growing Preference Ratios via Preference Fading Discrete Diffusion for Recommendation (2025) Diffusion and Flow Recommenders
33 Lianghao Xia 43 3
69 RecGPT: A Foundation Model for Sequential Recommendation (2025) Item Tokenization and Semantic IDs
45 Automated Self-Supervised Learning for Recommendation (2023) Graph Contrastive and Self-Supervised Learning
34 Junchen Fu COI: author 43 3
54 Are Multimodal Embeddings Truly Beneficial for Recommendation? A Deep Dive into Whole vs. Individual Modalities (2026) Multimodal Generative Recommendation
51 Bridging the Gap: Teacher-Assisted Wasserstein Knowledge Distillation for Efficient Multi-Modal Recommendation (2025) Multimodal Generative Recommendation