# Adaptive Transfer Clustering: A Unified Framework

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21263 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.21263/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 28 Oct 2024.

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

- [Optimal Transfer Learning for Missing Not-at-Random Matrix Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00174/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose a general transfer learning framework for clustering given a main dataset and an auxiliary one about the same subjects. The two datasets may reflect similar but different latent grouping structures of the subjects. We propose an adaptive transfer clustering (ATC) algorithm that automatically leverages the commonality in the presence of unknown discrepancy, by optimizing an estimated bias-variance decomposition. It applies to a broad class of statistical models including Gaussian mixture models, stochastic block models, and latent class models. A theoretical analysis proves the optimality of ATC under the Gaussian mixture model and explicitly quantifies the benefit of transfer. Extensive simulations and real data experiments confirm our method's effectiveness in various scenarios.