# BatchGFN: Generative Flow Networks for Batch Active Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.15058 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.15058/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 21 of its 27 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 26 Jun 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [Perceiver: General Perception with Iterative Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.03206/) (2021)
- [Deep Bayesian Active Learning with Image Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.02910/) (2017)
- [Deep Batch Active Learning by Diverse, Uncertain Gradient Lower Bounds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.03671/) (2019)
- [GPyTorch: Blackbox Matrix-Matrix Gaussian Process Inference with GPU Acceleration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.11165/) (2018)
- [BatchBALD: Efficient and Diverse Batch Acquisition for Deep Bayesian Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.08158/) (2019)
- [Flow Network based Generative Models for Non-Iterative Diverse Candidate Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04399/) (2021)
- [Trajectory balance: Improved credit assignment in GFlowNets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.13259/) (2022)
- [Biological Sequence Design with GFlowNets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.04115/) (2022)
- [Learning GFlowNets from partial episodes for improved convergence and stability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.12782/) (2022)
- [Self-Attention Between Datapoints: Going Beyond Individual Input-Output Pairs in Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02584/) (2021)
- [Multi-Objective GFlowNets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.12765/) (2022)
- [Gone Fishing: Neural Active Learning with Fisher Embeddings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09675/) (2021)
- [Better Training of GFlowNets with Local Credit and Incomplete Trajectories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.01687/) (2023)
- [Robust Scheduling with GFlowNets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05446/) (2023)
- [A Framework and Benchmark for Deep Batch Active Learning for Regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09410/) (2022)
- [Efficient Nonmyopic Bayesian Optimization via One-Shot Multi-Step Trees](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.15779/) (2020)
- [Unifying Approaches in Active Learning and Active Sampling via Fisher Information and Information-Theoretic Quantities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.00549/) (2022)
- [Conditioning Sparse Variational Gaussian Processes for Online Decision-making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.15172/) (2021)
- [Beyond Marginal Uncertainty: How Accurately can Bayesian Regression Models Estimate Posterior Predictive Correlations?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.03178/) (2020)
- [torchgfn: A PyTorch GFlowNet library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.14594/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Improved Exploration in GFlownets via Enhanced Epistemic Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.16313/) (2025)
- [Why Pool When You Can Flow? Active Learning with GFlowNets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.00704/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce BatchGFN -- a novel approach for pool-based active learning that uses generative flow networks to sample sets of data points proportional to a batch reward. With an appropriate reward function to quantify the utility of acquiring a batch, such as the joint mutual information between the batch and the model parameters, BatchGFN is able to construct highly informative batches for active learning in a principled way. We show our approach enables sampling near-optimal utility batches at inference time with a single forward pass per point in the batch in toy regression problems. This alleviates the computational complexity of batch-aware algorithms and removes the need for greedy approximations to find maximizers for the batch reward. We also present early results for amortizing training across acquisition steps, which will enable scaling to real-world tasks.