# AutoAL: Automated Active Learning with Differentiable Query Strategy Search

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.13853 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13853/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 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 17 Oct 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [DARTS: Differentiable Architecture Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.09055/) (2018)
- [Understanding Black-box Predictions via Influence Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.04730/) (2017)
- [An overview of gradient descent optimization algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04747/) (2016)
- [Generalized Cross Entropy Loss for Training Deep Neural Networks with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.07836/) (2018)
- [Deep Bayesian Active Learning with Image Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.02910/) (2017)
- [MedMNIST v2 -- A large-scale lightweight benchmark for 2D and 3D biomedical image classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14795/) (2021)
- [Deep Batch Active Learning by Diverse, Uncertain Gradient Lower Bounds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.03671/) (2019)
- [A Survey of Deep Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.00236/) (2020)
- [Learning Loss for Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.03677/) (2019)
- [Variational Adversarial Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.00370/) (2019)
- [Deep Deterministic Uncertainty: A Simple Baseline](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.11582/) (2021)
- [Investigating Bi-Level Optimization for Learning and Vision from a Unified Perspective: A Survey and Beyond](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.11517/) (2021)
- [Batch Active Learning at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.14263/) (2021)
- [Self-Tuning Networks: Bilevel Optimization of Hyperparameters using Structured Best-Response Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.03088/) (2019)
- [A Comparative Survey of Deep Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.13450/) (2022)
- [Generative Adversarial Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.07956/) (2017)
- [Gradient-based Bi-level Optimization for Deep Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.11719/) (2022)
- [Meta-Query-Net: Resolving Purity-Informativeness Dilemma in Open-set Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.07805/) (2022)
- [TF-NAS: Rethinking Three Search Freedoms of Latency-Constrained Differentiable Neural Architecture Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.05314/) (2020)
- [Algorithm Selection for Deep Active Learning with Imbalanced Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.07317/) (2023)
- [How to Select Which Active Learning Strategy is Best Suited for Your Specific Problem and Budget](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03543/) (2023)
- [LambdaOpt: Learn to Regularize Recommender Models in Finer Levels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11596/) (2019)
- [Multiple-criteria Based Active Learning with Fixed-size Determinantal Point Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.01622/) (2021)
- [Dynamic Ensemble Active Learning: A Non-Stationary Bandit with Expert Advice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.07778/) (2018)
- [Towards General and Efficient Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07963/) (2021)
- [Rapid Image Labeling via Neuro-Symbolic Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.10490/) (2023)

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

- [Cleaning the Pool: Progressive Filtering of Unlabeled Pools in Deep Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.22344/) (2025)
- [Soft Strategy Selection for Batch-Mode Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.05544/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

As deep learning continues to evolve, the need for data efficiency becomes increasingly important. Considering labeling large datasets is both time-consuming and expensive, active learning (AL) provides a promising solution to this challenge by iteratively selecting the most informative subsets of examples to train deep neural networks, thereby reducing the labeling cost. However, the effectiveness of different AL algorithms can vary significantly across data scenarios, and determining which AL algorithm best fits a given task remains a challenging problem. This work presents the first differentiable AL strategy search method, named AutoAL, which is designed on top of existing AL sampling strategies. AutoAL consists of two neural nets, named SearchNet and FitNet, which are optimized concurrently under a differentiable bi-level optimization framework. For any given task, SearchNet and FitNet are iteratively co-optimized using the labeled data, learning how well a set of candidate AL algorithms perform on that task. With the optimal AL strategies identified, SearchNet selects a small subset from the unlabeled pool for querying their annotations, enabling efficient training of the task model. Experimental results demonstrate that AutoAL consistently achieves superior accuracy compared to all candidate AL algorithms and other selective AL approaches, showcasing its potential for adapting and integrating multiple existing AL methods across diverse tasks and domains. Code is available at: https://github.com/haizailache999/AutoAL.