# Proto-CLIP: Vision-Language Prototypical Network for Few-Shot Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.03073 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.03073/

## Key facts

- Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Prompt learning and adaptation of CLIP, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models.
- Builds on 27 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Jul 2023.

## Placed in

- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [Prompt learning and adaptation of CLIP](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/prompt-learning-and-adaptation-of-clip/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Microsoft COCO: Common Objects in Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.0312/) (2014)
- [Representation Learning with Contrastive Predictive Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.03748/) (2018)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [Robust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04356/) (2022)
- [Prototypical Networks for Few-shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.05175/) (2017)
- [Visual Genome: Connecting Language and Vision Using Crowdsourced Dense Image Annotations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.07332/) (2016)
- [Learning to Prompt for Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.01134/) (2021)
- [Matching Networks for One Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.04080/) (2016)
- [Describing Textures in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1311.3618/) (2013)
- [Fine-Grained Visual Classification of Aircraft](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1306.5151/) (2013)
- [EuroSAT: A Novel Dataset and Deep Learning Benchmark for Land Use and Land Cover Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.00029/) (2017)
- [Learning to Compare: Relation Network for Few-Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.06025/) (2017)
- [CLIP-Adapter: Better Vision-Language Models with Feature Adapters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04544/) (2021)
- [A Closer Look at Few-shot Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.04232/) (2019)
- [Generalizing from a Few Examples: A Survey on Few-Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05046/) (2019)
- [Rethinking Few-Shot Image Classification: a Good Embedding Is All You Need?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11539/) (2020)
- [Dynamic Few-Shot Visual Learning without Forgetting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.09458/) (2018)
- [Tip-Adapter: Training-free Adaption of CLIP for Few-shot Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.09519/) (2022)
- [Meta-Dataset: A Dataset of Datasets for Learning to Learn from Few Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.03096/) (2019)
- [Contact-GraspNet: Efficient 6-DoF Grasp Generation in Cluttered Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14127/) (2021)
- [CrossTransformers: spatially-aware few-shot transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.11498/) (2020)
- [SuS-X: Training-Free Name-Only Transfer of Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.16198/) (2022)
- [Benchmarking in Manipulation Research: The YCB Object and Model Set and Benchmarking Protocols](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.03143/) (2015)
- [Mean Shift Mask Transformer for Unseen Object Instance Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.11679/) (2022)
- [FewSOL: A Dataset for Few-Shot Object Learning in Robotic Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.03333/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [A Survey on Multimodal Large Language Models for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12320/) (2023)
- [LLM4Drive: A Survey of Large Language Models for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.01043/) (2023)
- [Can Masked Autoencoders Also Listen to Birds?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12880/) (2025)
- [Adapting Pre-Trained Vision Models for Novel Instance Detection and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17859/) (2024)
- [Logits DeConfusion with CLIP for Few-Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12104/) (2025)
- [Multi-Cache Enhanced Prototype Learning for Test-Time Generalization of Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.01225/) (2025)
- [Improving Generalization of Language-Conditioned Robot Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.02405/) (2025)
- [Unsupervised Data-Efficient Cross-Modal Retrieval with Global-Neighborhood Alignment Hashing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.31517/) (2026)
- [Overcoming Labelled Data Scarcity for Defect Classification in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01678/) (2025)
- [Attn-Adapter: Attention Is All You Need for Online Few-shot Learner of Vision-Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.03895/) (2025)
- [Scalable Semantic Steering of Embedding Projections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.03978/) (2026)
- [Reprogramming Vision-Language Models via Structured Prompt Reparameterization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.36680/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose a novel framework for few-shot learning by leveraging large-scale vision-language models such as CLIP. Motivated by unimodal prototypical networks for few-shot learning, we introduce Proto-CLIP which utilizes image prototypes and text prototypes for few-shot learning. Specifically, Proto-CLIP adapts the image and text encoder embeddings from CLIP in a joint fashion using few-shot examples. The embeddings from the two encoders are used to compute the respective prototypes of image classes for classification. During adaptation, we propose aligning the image and text prototypes of the corresponding classes. Such alignment is beneficial for few-shot classification due to the reinforced contributions from both types of prototypes. Proto-CLIP has both training-free and fine-tuned variants. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by conducting experiments on benchmark datasets for few-shot learning, as well as in the real world for robot perception. The project page is available at https://irvlutd.github.io/Proto-CLIP