Search Results for author: Matthew J. Holland

Found 18 papers, 10 papers with code

Criterion collapse and loss distribution control

1 code implementation15 Feb 2024 Matthew J. Holland

In this work, we consider the notion of "criterion collapse," in which optimization of one metric implies optimality in another, with a particular focus on conditions for collapse into error probability minimizers under a wide variety of learning criteria, ranging from DRO and OCE risks (CVaR, tilted ERM) to non-monotonic criteria underlying recent ascent-descent algorithms explored in the literature (Flooding, SoftAD).

Implicit regularization via soft ascent-descent

1 code implementation16 Oct 2023 Matthew J. Holland, Kosuke Nakatani

As models grow larger and more complex, achieving better off-sample generalization with minimal trial-and-error is critical to the reliability and economy of machine learning workflows.

Binary Classification Image Classification

Robust variance-regularized risk minimization with concomitant scaling

1 code implementation27 Jan 2023 Matthew J. Holland

Under losses which are potentially heavy-tailed, we consider the task of minimizing sums of the loss mean and standard deviation, without trying to accurately estimate the variance.

Flexible risk design using bi-directional dispersion

1 code implementation28 Mar 2022 Matthew J. Holland

Many novel notions of "risk" (e. g., CVaR, tilted risk, DRO risk) have been proposed and studied, but these risks are all at least as sensitive as the mean to loss tails on the upside, and tend to ignore deviations on the downside.

A Survey of Learning Criteria Going Beyond the Usual Risk

no code implementations11 Oct 2021 Matthew J. Holland, Kazuki Tanabe

Virtually all machine learning tasks are characterized using some form of loss function, and "good performance" is typically stated in terms of a sufficiently small average loss, taken over the random draw of test data.

Robust learning with anytime-guaranteed feedback

1 code implementation24 May 2021 Matthew J. Holland

Under data distributions which may be heavy-tailed, many stochastic gradient-based learning algorithms are driven by feedback queried at points with almost no performance guarantees on their own.

Spectral risk-based learning using unbounded losses

1 code implementation11 May 2021 Matthew J. Holland, El Mehdi Haress

In this work, we consider the setting of learning problems under a wide class of spectral risk (or "L-risk") functions, where a Lipschitz-continuous spectral density is used to flexibly assign weight to extreme loss values.

Better scalability under potentially heavy-tailed feedback

1 code implementation14 Dec 2020 Matthew J. Holland

We study scalable alternatives to robust gradient descent (RGD) techniques that can be used when the losses and/or gradients can be heavy-tailed, though this will be unknown to the learner.

Learning with risks based on M-location

1 code implementation4 Dec 2020 Matthew J. Holland

In this work, we study a new class of risks defined in terms of the location and deviation of the loss distribution, generalizing far beyond classical mean-variance risk functions.

Stochastic Optimization

Making learning more transparent using conformalized performance prediction

no code implementations9 Jul 2020 Matthew J. Holland

In this work, we study some novel applications of conformal inference techniques to the problem of providing machine learning procedures with more transparent, accurate, and practical performance guarantees.

BIG-bench Machine Learning Conformal Prediction +1

Learning with CVaR-based feedback under potentially heavy tails

no code implementations3 Jun 2020 Matthew J. Holland, El Mehdi Haress

We study learning algorithms that seek to minimize the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR), when all the learner knows is that the losses incurred may be heavy-tailed.

Improved scalability under heavy tails, without strong convexity

no code implementations2 Jun 2020 Matthew J. Holland

Empirically, we also show that under heavy-tailed losses, the proposed procedure cannot simply be replaced with naive cross-validation.

Better scalability under potentially heavy-tailed gradients

no code implementations1 Jun 2020 Matthew J. Holland

We study a scalable alternative to robust gradient descent (RGD) techniques that can be used when the gradients can be heavy-tailed, though this will be unknown to the learner.

Distribution-robust mean estimation via smoothed random perturbations

1 code implementation25 Jun 2019 Matthew J. Holland

We consider the problem of mean estimation assuming only finite variance.

Statistics Theory Statistics Theory

PAC-Bayes under potentially heavy tails

no code implementations20 May 2019 Matthew J. Holland

We derive PAC-Bayesian learning guarantees for heavy-tailed losses, and obtain a novel optimal Gibbs posterior which enjoys finite-sample excess risk bounds at logarithmic confidence.

Robust descent using smoothed multiplicative noise

no code implementations15 Oct 2018 Matthew J. Holland

To improve the off-sample generalization of classical procedures minimizing the empirical risk under potentially heavy-tailed data, new robust learning algorithms have been proposed in recent years, with generalized median-of-means strategies being particularly salient.

Classification using margin pursuit

1 code implementation11 Oct 2018 Matthew J. Holland

In this work, we study a new approach to optimizing the margin distribution realized by binary classifiers.

Classification General Classification

Efficient learning with robust gradient descent

no code implementations1 Jun 2017 Matthew J. Holland, Kazushi Ikeda

Minimizing the empirical risk is a popular training strategy, but for learning tasks where the data may be noisy or heavy-tailed, one may require many observations in order to generalize well.

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