# LiveVal: Time-aware Data Valuation via Adaptive Reference Points

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.10489 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.10489/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 19 of its 32 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Feb 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [Understanding Black-box Predictions via Influence Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.04730/) (2017)
- [Data Shapley: Equitable Valuation of Data for Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02868/) (2019)
- [Estimating Training Data Influence by Tracing Gradient Descent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.08484/) (2020)
- [Deep Learning on a Data Diet: Finding Important Examples Early in Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.07075/) (2021)
- [Towards Efficient Data Valuation Based on the Shapley Value](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.10275/) (2019)
- [Influence Functions in Deep Learning Are Fragile](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.14651/) (2020)
- [Beta Shapley: a Unified and Noise-reduced Data Valuation Framework for Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14049/) (2021)
- [Mitigating Sybils in Federated Learning Poisoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.04866/) (2018)
- [Efficient Task-Specific Data Valuation for Nearest Neighbor Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.08619/) (2019)
- [On the Accuracy of Influence Functions for Measuring Group Effects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13289/) (2019)
- [Training Data Influence Analysis and Estimation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04612/) (2022)
- [Scaling Up Influence Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03052/) (2021)
- [Data Banzhaf: A Robust Data Valuation Framework for Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.15466/) (2022)
- [A Principled Approach to Data Valuation for Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.06192/) (2020)
- [Data Valuation using Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.11671/) (2019)
- [On Second-Order Group Influence Functions for Black-Box Predictions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.00418/) (2019)
- [Collaborative Machine Learning with Incentive-Aware Model Rewards](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.12797/) (2020)
- [Data Pruning via Moving-one-Sample-out](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.14664/) (2023)
- [Finding Influential Training Samples for Gradient Boosted Decision Trees](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.06640/) (2018)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Time-aware data valuation enhances training efficiency and model robustness, as early detection of harmful samples could prevent months of wasted computation. However, existing methods rely on model retraining or convergence assumptions or fail to capture long-term training dynamics. We propose LiveVal, an efficient time-aware data valuation method with three key designs: 1) seamless integration with SGD training for efficient data contribution monitoring; 2) reference-based valuation with normalization for reliable benchmark establishment; and 3) adaptive reference point selection for real-time updating with optimized memory usage. We establish theoretical guarantees for LiveVal's stability and prove that its valuations are bounded and directionally aligned with optimization progress. Extensive experiments demonstrate that LiveVal provides efficient data valuation across different modalities and model scales, achieving 180 speedup over traditional methods while maintaining robust detection performance.