Improved Algorithm for Deep Active Learning under Imbalance via Optimal Separation
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Abstract (arXiv)
Class imbalance severely impacts machine learning performance on minority classes in real-world applications. While various solutions exist, active learning offers a fundamental fix by strategically collecting balanced, informative labeled examples from abundant unlabeled data. We introduce DIRECT, an algorithm that identifies class separation boundaries and selects the most uncertain nearby examples for annotation. By reducing the problem to one-dimensional active learning, DIRECT leverages established theory to handle batch labeling and label noise -- another common challenge in data annotation that particularly affects active learning methods. Our work presents the first comprehensive study of active learning under both class imbalance and label noise. Extensive experiments on imbalanced datasets show DIRECT reduces annotation costs by over 60% compared to state-of-the-art active learning methods and over 80% versus random sampling, while maintaining robustness to label noise.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 29 of its 52 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Dec 2023.
Builds on
29 of 52 references.
References · 29
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17 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 3; 2025: 2; 2026: 3.
8 papers.
- 2024An Experimental Design Framework for Label-Efficient Supervised Finetuning of Large Language Modelscited by 23
- 2024AHA: Human-Assisted Out-of-Distribution Generalization and Detectioncited by 7
- 2024Deep Active Learning in the Open Worldcited by 5
- 2025Active Learning with a Noisy Annotatorcited by 3
- 2025Unique Rashomon Sets for Robust Active Learningcited by 2
- 2026Active Learning with Foundation Model Priors: Efficient Learning under Class Imbalancecited by 0
- 2026Decoding Insect Song: A Multitask Semisupervised Orthoptera Bioacoustic Classifiercited by 0
- 2026Hard Cases, Bad Labels: Testing Error Exposure and Error Location in Uncertainty Sampling Under Bounded Label Noisecited by 0
- 2026Hard Cases, Bad Labels: Testing Error Exposure and Error Location in Uncertainty Sampling Under Bounded Label Noise5 Aug 2026
- 2026Decoding Insect Song: A Multitask Semisupervised Orthoptera Bioacoustic Classifier11 Jun 2026
- 2026Active Learning with Foundation Model Priors: Efficient Learning under Class Imbalance30 May 2026
- 2025Active Learning with a Noisy Annotator6 Apr 2025
- 2025Unique Rashomon Sets for Robust Active Learning9 Mar 2025
- 2024Deep Active Learning in the Open World10 Nov 2024
- 2024AHA: Human-Assisted Out-of-Distribution Generalization and Detection10 Oct 2024
- 2024An Experimental Design Framework for Label-Efficient Supervised Finetuning of Large Language Models12 Jan 2024