# Network Inversion for Uncertainty-Aware Out-of-Distribution Detection

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.23448 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.23448/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 22 of its 35 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 22 of 22)

- [Explaining and Harnessing Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6572/) (2014)
- [Intriguing properties of neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6199/) (2013)
- [On Calibration of Modern Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.04599/) (2017)
- [Dropout as a Bayesian Approximation: Representing Model Uncertainty in Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02142/) (2015)
- [Fashion-MNIST: a Novel Image Dataset for Benchmarking Machine Learning Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.07747/) (2017)
- [Simple and Scalable Predictive Uncertainty Estimation using Deep Ensembles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.01474/) (2016)
- [Robustness May Be at Odds with Accuracy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.12152/) (2018)
- [Evidential Deep Learning to Quantify Classification Uncertainty](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.01768/) (2018)
- [Understanding Deep Image Representations by Inverting Them](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.0035/) (2014)
- [Understanding Neural Networks Through Deep Visualization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.06579/) (2015)
- [Synthesizing the preferred inputs for neurons in neural networks via deep generator networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.09304/) (2016)
- [Posterior Network: Uncertainty Estimation without OOD Samples via Density-Based Pseudo-Counts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09239/) (2020)
- [DEUP: Direct Epistemic Uncertainty Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.08501/) (2021)
- [Exploring the Landscape of Spatial Robustness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.02779/) (2017)
- [Post-hoc Uncertainty Learning using a Dirichlet Meta-Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.07359/) (2022)
- [Uncertainty-Aware Optimal Transport for Semantically Coherent Out-of-Distribution Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10449/) (2023)
- [Autoinverse: Uncertainty Aware Inversion of Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.13780/) (2022)
- [Landscape Learning for Neural Network Inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.09027/) (2022)
- [Network Inversion of Binarised Neural Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11995/) (2024)
- [Network Inversion of Convolutional Neural Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.18002/) (2024)
- [Uncertainty-Aware Out-of-Distribution Detection with Gaussian Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.20918/) (2024)
- [Network Inversion for Generating Confidently Classified Counterfeits](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20187/) (2025)

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

- [TIE: A Training-Inversion-Exclusion Framework for Visually Interpretable and Uncertainty-Guided Out-of-Distribution Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.00229/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Out-of-distribution (OOD) detection and uncertainty estimation (UE) are critical components for building safe machine learning systems, especially in real-world scenarios where unexpected inputs are inevitable. However the two problems have, until recently, separately been addressed. In this work, we propose a novel framework that combines network inversion with classifier training to simultaneously address both OOD detection and uncertainty estimation. For a standard n-class classification task, we extend the classifier to an (n+1)-class model by introducing a "garbage" class, initially populated with random gaussian noise to represent outlier inputs. After each training epoch, we use network inversion to reconstruct input images corresponding to all output classes that initially appear as noisy and incoherent and are therefore excluded to the garbage class for retraining the classifier. This cycle of training, inversion, and exclusion continues iteratively till the inverted samples begin to resemble the in-distribution data more closely, with a significant drop in the uncertainty, suggesting that the classifier has learned to carve out meaningful decision boundaries while sanitising the class manifolds by pushing OOD content into the garbage class. During inference, this training scheme enables the model to effectively detect and reject OOD samples by classifying them into the garbage class. Furthermore, the confidence scores associated with each prediction can be used to estimate uncertainty for both in-distribution and OOD inputs. Our approach is scalable, interpretable, and does not require access to external OOD datasets or post-hoc calibration techniques while providing a unified solution to the dual challenges of OOD detection and uncertainty estimation.