# EchoAlign: Bridging Generative and Discriminative Learning under Noisy Labels

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12969 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.12969/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 36 of its 68 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 May 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [mixup: Beyond Empirical Risk Minimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.09412/) (2017)
- [Improved Training of Wasserstein GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.00028/) (2017)
- [Spectral Normalization for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.05957/) (2018)
- [Co-teaching: Robust Training of Deep Neural Networks with Extremely Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.06872/) (2018)
- [A Closer Look at Memorization in Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05394/) (2017)
- [Early-Learning Regularization Prevents Memorization of Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.00151/) (2020)
- [How does Disagreement Help Generalization against Label Corruption?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.04215/) (2019)
- [Unsupervised Label Noise Modeling and Loss Correction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.11238/) (2019)
- [Training Deep Neural Networks on Noisy Labels with Bootstrapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6596/) (2014)
- [Joint Optimization Framework for Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.11364/) (2018)
- [WebVision Database: Visual Learning and Understanding from Web Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.02862/) (2017)
- [Normalized Loss Functions for Deep Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.13554/) (2020)
- [Are Anchor Points Really Indispensable in Label-Noise Learning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.00189/) (2019)
- [SELF: Learning to Filter Noisy Labels with Self-Ensembling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.01842/) (2019)
- [Understanding and Improving Early Stopping for Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.15853/) (2021)
- [Learning with Biased Complementary Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.09535/) (2017)
- [FINE Samples for Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.11628/) (2021)
- [A Topological Filter for Learning with Label Noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.04835/) (2020)
- [Classification with Asymmetric Label Noise: Consistency and Maximal Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1303.1208/) (2013)
- [Confidence Scores Make Instance-dependent Label-noise Learning Possible](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.03772/) (2020)
- [Learning with Bounded Instance- and Label-dependent Label Noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.03768/) (2017)
- [Instance-dependent Label-noise Learning under a Structural Causal Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.02986/) (2021)
- [Mitigating Memorization of Noisy Labels by Clipping the Model Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04055/) (2022)
- [Identifiability of Label Noise Transition Matrix](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02016/) (2022)
- [Estimating Instance-dependent Bayes-label Transition Matrix using a Deep Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.13001/) (2021)
- [Understanding and Mitigating the Label Noise in Pre-training on Downstream Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.17002/) (2023)
- [Unifying GANs and Score-Based Diffusion as Generative Particle Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16150/) (2023)
- [Label-Retrieval-Augmented Diffusion Models for Learning from Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.19518/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Noisy labels severely hinder the accuracy and generalization of machine learning models, especially when ambiguous instance features make reliable annotation difficult. Existing approaches, including transition-matrix-based label correction, struggle to capture complex relationships between instances and noisy labels, limiting their effectiveness in such settings. We present EchoAlign, a framework that bridges generative and discriminative learning under noisy labels. Instead of correcting labels, EchoAlign treats noisy labels as supervision targets and modifies the corresponding instances to align with them. The framework has two components: EchoMod uses controllable generative models to adjust instance features while preserving key instance-level structural cues, such as shape and edges, and avoiding excessive distortion; EchoSelect mitigates distribution shifts by retaining a reliable subset of original instances, guided by feature similarity between original and modified samples. This generative-discriminative interplay enables robust learning in highly noisy settings. Experiments on three benchmark datasets show that EchoAlign outperforms state-of-the-art methods in most evaluated settings. Under 30% instance-dependent noise, EchoSelect retains nearly twice as many correctly labeled samples as competing approaches while maintaining 99% selection accuracy, demonstrating the robustness and effectiveness of EchoAlign.