# Continual Unsupervised Representation Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.14481 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.14481/

## Key facts

- Cited by 147 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 31 Oct 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 147)

- [Learning to Prompt for Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.08654/) (2021)
- [A Comprehensive Survey of Continual Learning: Theory, Method and Application](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00487/) (2023)
- [Online Continual Learning in Image Classification: An Empirical Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.10423/) (2021)
- [Progressive Prompts: Continual Learning for Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.12314/) (2023)
- [Self-Supervised Models are Continual Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.04215/) (2021)
- [Continual Pre-Training of Large Language Models: How to (re)warm your model?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04014/) (2023)
- [Continual World: A Robotic Benchmark For Continual Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.10919/) (2021)
- [Representational Continuity for Unsupervised Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.06976/) (2021)
- [Continual Learning and Catastrophic Forgetting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05175/) (2024)
- [A Comprehensive Survey of Forgetting in Deep Learning Beyond Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09218/) (2023)
- [ORDisCo: Effective and Efficient Usage of Incremental Unlabeled Data for Semi-supervised Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00407/) (2021)
- [Continual Learning for Real-World Autonomous Systems: Algorithms, Challenges and Frameworks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.12374/) (2021)
- [Recent Advances of Continual Learning in Computer Vision: An Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11369/) (2021)
- [Semi-Supervised and Unsupervised Deep Visual Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.11296/) (2022)
- [Introducing Language Guidance in Prompt-based Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.15827/) (2023)
- [CorDA: Context-Oriented Decomposition Adaptation of Large Language Models for Task-Aware Parameter-Efficient Fine-tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05223/) (2024)
- [Meta-Learning Online Adaptation of Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15076/) (2023)
- [Modular Lifelong Reinforcement Learning via Neural Composition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.00429/) (2022)
- [DualNet: Continual Learning, Fast and Slow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.00175/) (2021)
- [Continually Learning Self-Supervised Representations with Projected Functional Regularization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.15022/) (2021)
- [Divide and not forget: Ensemble of selectively trained experts in Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.10191/) (2024)
- [The Challenges of Continuous Self-Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.12710/) (2022)
- [From Machine Learning to Robotics: Challenges and Opportunities for Embodied Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.15245/) (2021)
- [Continual Neural Mapping: Learning An Implicit Scene Representation from Sequential Observations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.05851/) (2021)
- [Balancing Stability and Plasticity through Advanced Null Space in Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12061/) (2022)
- [How Well Does Self-Supervised Pre-Training Perform with Streaming Data?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.12081/) (2021)
- [Continual Learning with Bayesian Model based on a Fixed Pre-trained Feature Extractor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.13349/) (2022)
- [Beyond Just Vision: A Review on Self-Supervised Representation Learning on Multimodal and Temporal Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.02353/) (2022)
- [How to Reuse and Compose Knowledge for a Lifetime of Tasks: A Survey on Continual Learning and Functional Composition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.07730/) (2022)
- [Online-LoRA: Task-free Online Continual Learning via Low Rank Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.05663/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Continual learning aims to improve the ability of modern learning systems to deal with non-stationary distributions, typically by attempting to learn a series of tasks sequentially. Prior art in the field has largely considered supervised or reinforcement learning tasks, and often assumes full knowledge of task labels and boundaries. In this work, we propose an approach (CURL) to tackle a more general problem that we will refer to as unsupervised continual learning. The focus is on learning representations without any knowledge about task identity, and we explore scenarios when there are abrupt changes between tasks, smooth transitions from one task to another, or even when the data is shuffled. The proposed approach performs task inference directly within the model, is able to dynamically expand to capture new concepts over its lifetime, and incorporates additional rehearsal-based techniques to deal with catastrophic forgetting. We demonstrate the efficacy of CURL in an unsupervised learning setting with MNIST and Omniglot, where the lack of labels ensures no information is leaked about the task. Further, we demonstrate strong performance compared to prior art in an i.i.d setting, or when adapting the technique to supervised tasks such as incremental class learning.