Training-Free Neural Active Learning with Initialization-Robustness Guarantees
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Abstract (arXiv)
Existing neural active learning algorithms have aimed to optimize the predictive performance of neural networks (NNs) by selecting data for labelling. However, other than a good predictive performance, being robust against random parameter initializations is also a crucial requirement in safety-critical applications. To this end, we introduce our expected variance with Gaussian processes (EV-GP) criterion for neural active learning, which is theoretically guaranteed to select data points which lead to trained NNs with both (a) good predictive performances and (b) initialization robustness. Importantly, our EV-GP criterion is training-free, i.e., it does not require any training of the NN during data selection, which makes it computationally efficient. We empirically demonstrate that our EV-GP criterion is highly correlated with both initialization robustness and generalization performance, and show that it consistently outperforms baseline methods in terms of both desiderata, especially in situations with limited initial data or large batch sizes.
Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 53 of its 90 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 7 Jun 2023.
Builds on
53 of 90 references.
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38 more
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