# MetaLabelNet: Learning to Generate Soft-Labels from Noisy-Labels

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.10869 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10869/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 34 of its 54 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Mar 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 34)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.02531/) (2015)
- [ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.0575/) (2014)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [Understanding deep learning requires rethinking generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.03530/) (2016)
- [Inception-v4, Inception-ResNet and the Impact of Residual Connections on Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.07261/) (2016)
- [Co-teaching: Robust Training of Deep Neural Networks with Extremely Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.06872/) (2018)
- [Generalized Cross Entropy Loss for Training Deep Neural Networks with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.07836/) (2018)
- [A Closer Look at Memorization in Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05394/) (2017)
- [DivideMix: Learning with Noisy Labels as Semi-supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.07394/) (2020)
- [Learning to Reweight Examples for Robust Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.09050/) (2018)
- [Making Deep Neural Networks Robust to Label Noise: a Loss Correction Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.03683/) (2016)
- [MentorNet: Learning Data-Driven Curriculum for Very Deep Neural Networks on Corrupted Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.05055/) (2017)
- [Symmetric Cross Entropy for Robust Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.06112/) (2019)
- [Robust Loss Functions under Label Noise for Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.09482/) (2017)
- [Training Deep Neural Networks on Noisy Labels with Bootstrapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6596/) (2014)
- [Joint Optimization Framework for Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.11364/) (2018)
- [WebVision Database: Visual Learning and Understanding from Web Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.02862/) (2017)
- [Decoupling "when to update" from "how to update"](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02613/) (2017)
- [Probabilistic End-to-end Noise Correction for Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.07788/) (2019)
- [Understanding and Utilizing Deep Neural Networks Trained with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.05040/) (2019)
- [Are Anchor Points Really Indispensable in Label-Noise Learning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.00189/) (2019)
- [CleanNet: Transfer Learning for Scalable Image Classifier Training with Label Noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.07131/) (2017)
- [Dimensionality-Driven Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02612/) (2018)
- [SELF: Learning to Filter Noisy Labels with Self-Ensembling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.01842/) (2019)
- [Learning to Learn from Noisy Labeled Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.05214/) (2018)
- [Iterative Learning with Open-set Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.00092/) (2018)
- [Image Classification with Deep Learning in the Presence of Noisy Labels: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.05170/) (2019)
- [Who Said What: Modeling Individual Labelers Improves Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.08774/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Robust Cross-Modal Representation Learning with Progressive Self-Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04588/) (2022)
- [Meta-Calibration: Learning of Model Calibration Using Differentiable Expected Calibration Error](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09613/) (2021)
- [Tackling Noisy Labels with Network Parameter Additive Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.13241/) (2024)
- [Pre-trained Language Models as Re-Annotators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.05368/) (2022)
- [SLT: Robust Quantum Neural Networks for Noisy-Label Medical Image Classification via Supermartingale-based Label Transition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.16293/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Real-world datasets commonly have noisy labels, which negatively affects the performance of deep neural networks (DNNs). In order to address this problem, we propose a label noise robust learning algorithm, in which the base classifier is trained on soft-labels that are produced according to a meta-objective. In each iteration, before conventional training, the meta-objective reshapes the loss function by changing soft-labels, so that resulting gradient updates would lead to model parameters with minimum loss on meta-data. Soft-labels are generated from extracted features of data instances, and the mapping function is learned by a single layer perceptron (SLP) network, which is called MetaLabelNet. Following, base classifier is trained by using these generated soft-labels. These iterations are repeated for each batch of training data. Our algorithm uses a small amount of clean data as meta-data, which can be obtained effortlessly for many cases. We perform extensive experiments on benchmark datasets with both synthetic and real-world noises. Results show that our approach outperforms existing baselines.