# Multi-Task Cooperative Learning via Searching for Flat Minima

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.12090 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.12090/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 24 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Sep 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [Gradient Surgery for Multi-Task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.06782/) (2020)
- [GradNorm: Gradient Normalization for Adaptive Loss Balancing in Deep Multitask Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.02257/) (2017)
- [Multi-Task Learning as Multi-Objective Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04650/) (2018)
- [An Overview of Multi-Task Learning in Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05098/) (2017)
- [Cross-stitch Networks for Multi-task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.03539/) (2016)
- [Conflict-Averse Gradient Descent for Multi-task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14048/) (2021)
- [Multi-Task Learning with Deep Neural Networks: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.09796/) (2020)
- [REFUGE Challenge: A Unified Framework for Evaluating Automated Methods for Glaucoma Assessment from Fundus Photographs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03667/) (2019)
- [Just Pick a Sign: Optimizing Deep Multitask Models with Gradient Sign Dropout](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.06808/) (2020)
- [Fast and Flexible Multi-Task Classification Using Conditional Neural Adaptive Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.07697/) (2019)
- [Overcoming Catastrophic Forgetting in Incremental Few-Shot Learning by Finding Flat Minima](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.01549/) (2021)
- [Learning Multiple Dense Prediction Tasks from Partially Annotated Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14893/) (2021)
- [HF-UNet: Learning Hierarchically Inter-Task Relevance in Multi-Task U-Net for Accurate Prostate Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.10439/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [GCond: Gradient Conflict Resolution via Accumulation-based Stabilization for Large-Scale Multi-Task Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.07252/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Multi-task learning (MTL) has shown great potential in medical image analysis, improving the generalizability of the learned features and the performance in individual tasks. However, most of the work on MTL focuses on either architecture design or gradient manipulation, while in both scenarios, features are learned in a competitive manner. In this work, we propose to formulate MTL as a multi/bi-level optimization problem, and therefore force features to learn from each task in a cooperative approach. Specifically, we update the sub-model for each task alternatively taking advantage of the learned sub-models of the other tasks. To alleviate the negative transfer problem during the optimization, we search for flat minima for the current objective function with regard to features from other tasks. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, we validate our method on three publicly available datasets. The proposed method shows the advantage of cooperative learning, and yields promising results when compared with the state-of-the-art MTL approaches. The code will be available online.