Deep Classifier Mimicry without Data Access
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Abstract (arXiv)
Access to pre-trained models has recently emerged as a standard across numerous machine learning domains. Unfortunately, access to the original data the models were trained on may not equally be granted. This makes it tremendously challenging to fine-tune, compress models, adapt continually, or to do any other type of data-driven update. We posit that original data access may however not be required. Specifically, we propose Contrastive Abductive Knowledge Extraction (CAKE), a model-agnostic knowledge distillation procedure that mimics deep classifiers without access to the original data. To this end, CAKE generates pairs of noisy synthetic samples and diffuses them contrastively toward a model's decision boundary. We empirically corroborate CAKE's effectiveness using several benchmark datasets and various architectural choices, paving the way for broad application.
Key facts. Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 37 of its 62 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 3 Jun 2023.
Builds on
37 of 62 references.
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25 more
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 4; 2026: 2.
6 papers.
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- 2026On the Failure of Boundary-Seeking Distillation in Bottlenecked Generative Architecturescited by 0
- 2026On the Failure of Boundary-Seeking Distillation in Bottlenecked Generative Architectures17 Jul 2026
- 2026Provable Sparse Inversion and Token Relabel Enhanced One-shot Federated Learning with ViTs11 May 2026
- 2025Tractable Representation Learning with Probabilistic Circuits6 Jul 2025
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- 2025Single Domain Generalization with Model-aware Parametric Batch-wise Mixup22 Feb 2025
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