Variational inference is a scalable technique for approximate Bayesian inference. Deriving variational inference algorithms requires tedious model-specific calculations; this makes it difficult to automate. We propose an automatic variational inference algorithm, automatic differentiation variational inference (ADVI). …
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48 results for “Automatic Differentiation Variational Inference”
This paper introduces a spline-based method for nonparametric ADVI that handles complex posterior distributions.
problem Learning complex posterior distributions with skewness, multimodality, and bounded support.
method Develops a spline-based nonparametric approximation approach for ADVI.
result Establishes the asymptotic consistency of the derived lower bound for importance weighted autoencoder.
ADVI speeds up Bayesian inference for bridge regression models.
problem Slow MCMC for large datasets in bridge regression.
method Automatic Differentiation Variational Inference (ADVI) for Bayesian inference.
result ADVI implementation speeds up inference for large datasets.
AutoBayes simplifies variational inference by composing models and optimizing them.
problem Generalized variational inference complexities and optimization challenges.
method Compositional framework exploiting chain rules for automatic differentiation.
result Optimized models and parameterized statistical games can be locally optimized.
Probabilistic modeling is iterative. A scientist posits a simple model, fits it to her data, refines it according to her analysis, and repeats. However, fitting complex models to large data is a bottleneck in this process. Deriving algorithms for new models can be both mathematically and computationally challenging, wh…
ASVI automates variational inference for complex models.
problem Efficient variational inference for complex probabilistic models.
method Automatic structured variational inference (ASVI) using convex updates.
result ASVI outperforms other methods on a wide range of problems.
Automatic Variational ABCstat.ML
Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) is a framework for performing likelihood-free posterior inference for simulation models. Stochastic Variational inference (SVI) is an appealing alternative to the inefficient sampling approaches commonly used in ABC. However, SVI is highly sensitive to the variance of the gradient…
Storchastic improves stochastic AD for complex models in RL and VI.
problem Handling intractable expectations in RL and VI.
method Introduces Storchastic, a framework for AD of stochastic computation graphs with various gradient estimation methods.
result Provable unbiasedness and variance reduction for higher-order gradients.
A framework to boost the efficiency of Bayesian inference in probabilistic programs is introduced by embedding a sampler inside a variational posterior approximation. We call it the refined variational approximation. Its strength lies both in ease of implementation and automatically tuning of the sampler parameters to …
New method recovers relative rates in spatial compositional data from IMS.
problem Challenges in analyzing spatial data from IMS due to competitive sampling.
method Hierarchical Variational Graph Fused Lasso using heavy-tailed graphical lasso prior and automatic differentiation variational inference.
result Our method outperforms state-of-the-practice point estimate methodologies in IMS and has superior posterior coverage.
New method speeds up Gaussian process inference for large datasets.
problem Numerical instability and inefficiency in approximate inference methods for non-Gaussian likelihoods.
method Conjugate-computation variational inference with Kalman recursions.
result Linear-time inference with fast and stable variational inference for state-space GP models.
Banded matrices can be used as precision matrices in several models including linear state-space models, some Gaussian processes, and Gaussian Markov random fields. The aim of the paper is to make modern inference methods (such as variational inference or gradient-based sampling) available for Gaussian models with band…
We introduce TrustVI, a fast second-order algorithm for black-box variational inference based on trust-region optimization and the reparameterization trick. At each iteration, TrustVI proposes and assesses a step based on minibatches of draws from the variational distribution. The algorithm provably converges to a stat…
In deep latent Gaussian models, the latent variable is generated by a time-inhomogeneous Markov chain, where at each time step we pass the current state through a parametric nonlinear map, such as a feedforward neural net, and add a small independent Gaussian perturbation. This work considers the diffusion limit of suc…
Cascading flows improve variational inference in structured programs.
problem Challenges in variational inference for complex probabilistic programs.
method Integrates normalizing flows and ASVI to create cascading flows, which embed the forward-pass of probabilistic programs.
result Cascading flows outperform normalizing flows and ASVI in structured inference problems.
A new method for solving complex inverse problems using deep learning.
problem Estimating complex spatially-varying parameters in high-dimensional Bayesian inverse problems.
method A variational inference method with a deep generative prior to approximate the posterior distribution.
result The method improves estimation accuracy and efficiency for solving high-dimensional inverse problems.
New method learns complex, multimodal distributions in ADVI.
problem Learning unimodal approximate posteriors limits ADVI's ability to capture complex data structures.
method Use stratified sampling to allow mixture distributions as approximate posteriors, derive a tighter evidence lower bound.
result SIWAE objective allows ADVI to learn more complex, multimodal distributions, improving accuracy and calibration.
GPflow is a Gaussian process library that uses TensorFlow for its core computations and Python for its front end. The distinguishing features of GPflow are that it uses variational inference as the primary approximation method, provides concise code through the use of automatic differentiation, has been engineered with…
VINNAS uses variational inference to avoid mode collapse in neural architecture search.
problem Mode collapse in gradient-based NAS methods, leading to suboptimal architectures.
method Differentiable variational inference with variational dropout and automatic relevance determination.
result State-of-the-art accuracy with up to twice fewer non-zero parameters.
Pathfinder uses quasi-Newton optimization for variational inference.
problem Approximating complex posterior distributions efficiently.
method Pathfinder combines quasi-Newton optimization with variational methods to approximate log densities.
result Pathfinder produces draws with lower KL divergence than ADVI and comparable to HMC, requiring fewer evaluations.
The benefits of automating design cycles for Bayesian inference-based algorithms are becoming increasingly recognized by the machine learning community. As a result, interest in probabilistic programming frameworks has much increased over the past few years. This paper explores a specific probabilistic programming para…
This work uses variational inference to estimate parameters of opinion dynamics models.
problem Challenges in parameter estimation for ABMs of social phenomena.
method Transformed ABM parameter estimation into an optimization problem using variational inference.
result Estimates parameters more accurately than simulation-based and MCMC methods.
The paper proposes an efficient method to scale Bayesian inference for mixed multinomial logit models to very large datasets.
problem Efficiency in Bayesian inference for mixed multinomial logit models on large datasets.
method Amortized Variational Inference with stochastic backpropagation, automatic differentiation, and GPU acceleration.
result The proposed method achieves significant computational speedups over traditional methods for large datasets.
Bayesian approach controls FDR in high-dimensional models.
problem High-dimensional variable selection and inference.
method Adapted Mirror Statistic to Bayesian framework for FDR control.
result Effective FDR control without data splitting.
A recurring problem when building probabilistic latent variable models is regularization and model selection, for instance, the choice of the dimensionality of the latent space. In the context of belief networks with latent variables, this problem has been adressed with Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD) employing…
RAD estimates gradients with less memory, faster than small batch sizes.
problem Training deep models with stochastic gradient descent requires exact gradients, but they are not needed.
method Developed a framework for randomized automatic differentiation (RAD) to compute unbiased gradient estimates with reduced memory.
result RAD converges in fewer iterations than using a small batch size for feedforward networks and similar number for recurrent networks.
The article describe the model, derivation, and implementation of variational Bayesian inference for linear and logistic regression, both with and without automatic relevance determination. It has the dual function of acting as a tutorial for the derivation of variational Bayesian inference for simple models, as well a…
Natural Gradients in Practice: Non-Conjugate Variational Inference in Gaussian Process Modelsstat.ML
The natural gradient method has been used effectively in conjugate Gaussian process models, but the non-conjugate case has been largely unexplored. We examine how natural gradients can be used in non-conjugate stochastic settings, together with hyperparameter learning. We conclude that the natural gradient can signific…
ADAVI tackles variational inference for large HBM models in neuroimaging.
problem Large, pyramidally-organized HBM models in neuroimaging studies.
method Automatic dual amortized variational inference using neural networks and attention-based hierarchical encoding.
result Significantly reduced parameterization of the variational family, maintaining expressivity.
New method simplifies Bayesian analysis for categorical data.
problem Difficulties in scaling GLMs for categorical data due to non-conjugacy or posterior dependencies.
method Defining CB models with binary approximations for tractable inference.
result Fast and scalable inference for thousands of categories, outperforming competitors.
Variational inference provides a powerful tool for approximate probabilistic in- ference on complex, structured models. Typical variational inference methods, however, require to use inference networks with computationally tractable proba- bility density functions. This largely limits the design and implementation of v…
Simplifies efficient estimation via automatic differentiation and probabilistic programming.
problem Constructing efficient estimators for complex statistical models.
method Automatic differentiation applied to statistical functionals, avoiding the need to derive efficient influence functions.
result Users can generate efficient estimators with minimal code, simplifying the process for non-experts.
In this paper, we study the trade-offs of different inference approaches for Bayesian matrix factorisation methods, which are commonly used for predicting missing values, and for finding patterns in the data. In particular, we consider Bayesian nonnegative variants of matrix factorisation and tri-factorisation, and com…
The exactness equation for Lepage 2-forms, associated with variational systems of ordinary differential equations on smooth manifolds, is analyzed with the aim to construct a concrete global variational principle. It is shown that locally variational systems defined by homogeneous functions of degree are …
Develops algorithm to differentiate Metropolis-Hastings for optimization.
problem Optimizing intractable densities with discrete components.
method Fuses stochastic automatic differentiation with Markov chain coupling schemes.
result Unbiased and low-variance gradient estimator for intractable densities.
EMFs combine deep learning and probabilistic models for better density estimation.
problem Combining domain-specific knowledge with general-purpose deep learning.
method Alternating transformations with structured layers that embed domain-specific inductive biases.
result EMFs induce desirable properties like multimodality and hierarchical coupling.
A new method for privacy-preserving Bayesian learning in federated learning.
problem Privacy-preserving learning of models from distributed sensitive data.
method Differentially private partitioned variational inference (DPVI) for federated learning.
result First general framework for federated Bayesian learning with differential privacy.
The paper tackles model collapse in GPLVMs by improving kernel flexibility and projection variance.
problem Model collapse in GPLVMs leading to vague latent representations.
method Theoretical analysis of projection variance, integration of SM and RFF kernels, and variational inference.
result The advisedRFLVM outperforms competing models in informative latent representations and missing data imputation.
We present a new algorithm for approximate inference in probabilistic programs, based on a stochastic gradient for variational programs. This method is efficient without restrictions on the probabilistic program; it is particularly practical for distributions which are not analytically tractable, including highly struc…
Paper learns dictionaries for sparse signal recovery using automatic differentiation.
problem Learning dictionaries for sparse signal recovery from noisy data.
method Approximates reconstructions using FB algorithm and learns dictionaries with projected gradient descent.
result Successfully learns 1D TV dictionary from piecewise constant signals.
Many machine learning applications are based on data collected from people, such as their tastes and behaviour as well as biological traits and genetic data. Regardless of how important the application might be, one has to make sure individuals' identities or the privacy of the data are not compromised in the analysis.…
GeoPhy uses geometric gradients to efficiently infer phylogenetic trees from molecular data.
problem Challenges in accurately inferring species relationships from molecular data due to combinatorially vast tree topologies.
method Introduces a novel, fully differentiable formulation of phylogenetic inference using geometric spaces and variational Bayesian methods.
result Significantly outperforms other approximate Bayesian methods in inferring phylogenetic trees.
A fast and scalable method for variable selection in high-dimensional Gaussian processes.
problem Inefficient variable selection in high-dimensional Gaussian processes.
method Developed a fast and scalable variational inference algorithm for spike and slab Gaussian processes.
result Consistently outperforms vanilla and sparse variational GPs while retaining similar runtimes.
DADVI improves ADVI by using deterministic approximation for faster, more accurate posterior estimation.
problem Intractable posterior uncertainty estimates and lack of clear convergence criteria in ADVI.
method Replaces stochastic MFVB objective with deterministic Monte Carlo approximation (SAA) and uses second-order optimization.
result DADVI provides faster and more accurate posterior estimates with default settings.
Noise-aware DP inference improves accuracy for complex models.
problem Inaccurate results and biases in DP inference for complex models.
method Noise-aware stochastic gradient variational inference.
result Accurate coverages and predictive probabilities for complex models.
d3p package enables efficient Bayesian inference with differential privacy.
problem Efficiently performing Bayesian inference under differential privacy constraints.
method Differentially private variational inference for flexible probabilistic models.
result Achieves significant speed-up in runtime for complex models.
A new variational method for SSMs improves inference efficiency.
problem Hard variational inference for state space models.
method Proposes variational marginal particle filter (VMPF) based on Rao-Blackwellization.
result VMPF provides tighter variational bounds and sometimes benefits from unbiased reparameterization.
A probabilistic, data-driven closure model for RANS simulations with aleatoric, model uncertaintyphysics.flu-dyn
Proposes a new model for RANS simulations with uncertainty.
problem Uncertainty in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations.
method Data-driven closure model with aleatoric uncertainty, Bayesian formulation, sparse indirect data.
result Accurate probabilistic predictions, even in regions of model error.