VeLO: Training Versatile Learned Optimizers by Scaling Up
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Abstract (arXiv)
While deep learning models have replaced hand-designed features across many domains, these models are still trained with hand-designed optimizers. In this work, we leverage the same scaling approach behind the success of deep learning to learn versatile optimizers. We train an optimizer for deep learning which is itself a small neural network that ingests gradients and outputs parameter updates. Meta-trained with approximately four thousand TPU-months of compute on a wide variety of optimization tasks, our optimizer not only exhibits compelling performance, but optimizes in interesting and unexpected ways. It requires no hyperparameter tuning, instead automatically adapting to the specifics of the problem being optimized. We open source our learned optimizer, meta-training code, the associated train and test data, and an extensive optimizer benchmark suite with baselines at velo-code.github.io.
Key facts. Cited by 57 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 90 of its 153 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 17 Nov 2022.
Builds on
90 of 153 references.
References · 90
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50 most cited of 90 All 90 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 20; 2024: 19; 2025: 9; 2026: 9.
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- 2024Learning to Explore for Stochastic Gradient MCMC17 Aug 2024
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- 2024Discovering Minimal Reinforcement Learning Environments18 Jun 2024
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- 2024Implicit Neural Image Field for Biological Microscopy Image Compression29 May 2024
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- 2023Hyperparameters in Reinforcement Learning and How To Tune Themcited by 58
- 2023Graph Metanetworks for Processing Diverse Neural Architecturescited by 55
- 2023Neural Functional Transformerscited by 50
- 2023Discovering Attention-Based Genetic Algorithms via Meta-Black-Box Optimizationcited by 33
- 2023Learning to Warm-Start Fixed-Point Optimization Algorithmscited by 32
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- 2026Lightweight and Versatile Learned Optimization by Recombination of Gradient History7 Oct 2026
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- 2026Efficient Long-Horizon Learning for Learned Optimization7 Jul 2026
- 2026Dynamic Neural Graph Encoding of Inference Processes in Deep Weight Space2 Jul 2026
- 2026AI Training Manager: Bounded Closed-Loop Control of Adaptive Training Recipes29 Jun 2026
- 2026Learn2Splat: Extending the Horizon of Learned 3DGS Optimization15 May 2026
- 2026Quasi-Equivariant Metanetworks26 Apr 2026
- 2026Celo2: Towards Learned Optimization Free Lunch22 Feb 2026
- 2026POP: Prior-Fitted First-Order Optimization Policies17 Feb 2026
- 2025Evolution Strategies at the Hyperscale20 Nov 2025
- 2025ReSplat: Learning Recurrent Gaussian Splatting9 Oct 2025
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