Differentiable Semantic ID for Generative Recommendation
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
| # | Reviewer | Match | Why (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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 chair | Match | |
|---|---|---|
| Xiaoyi Zeng | 50 |
Area-chair candidates (5)
| Xiaoyi Zeng assigned | 50 | 11 papers | |
| Weiming Liu 0005 | 44 | 8 papers | |
| Maolin Wang 0001 | 44 | 15 papers | |
| Leyu Lin | 43 | 15 papers | |
| Kun Gai | 42 | 5 papers |
Candidates from the panel ranked by match score
| # | Reviewer | Match | Load | Why | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |