System and method for generating models representing users of a media providing service

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing one or more programs, the one or more programs including instructions for:
• receiving historical data for a user of a media providing service, the historical data indicating past interactions of the user with media items provided by the media providing service;
• generating a model of the user, the model comprising a first set of parameters, each of the first set of parameters quantifying a predicted latent preference of the user for a respective media item provided by the media providing service, the generating including evaluating the predicted latent preferences of the user for the respective media items against the historical data indicating the past interactions of the user with the media items provided by the media providing service;
• selecting a recommender system from a plurality of recommender systems using the model of the user by simulating user interactions with a sequence of media items provided by the recommender system, including the first set of parameters;
• and
• providing a media item to a second user using the selected recommender system.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by a computer system with one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

• receiving historical data for a user of a media providing service, the historical data indicating past interactions of the user with media items provided by the media providing service;
• generating a model of the user, the model comprising a first set of parameters, each of the first set of parameters quantifying a predicted latent preference of the user for a respective media item provided by the media providing service, the generating including evaluating the predicted latent preferences of the user for the respective media items against the historical data indicating the past interactions of the user with the media items provided by the media providing service;
• selecting a recommender system from a plurality of recommender systems using the model of the user by simulating user interactions with a sequence of media items provided by the recommender system, including the first set of parameters;
• and
• providing a media item to a second user using the selected recommender system.