This is a report for reproducibility challenge of NeurlIPS 2019 on the paper Competitive Gradient Descent (Schafer et al., 2019). The paper introduces a novel algorithm for the numerical computation of Nash equilibria of competitive two-player games. It avoids oscillatory and divergent behaviours seen in alternating gr…
We organized a competition on Autonomous Lifelong Machine Learning with Drift that was part of the competition program of NeurIPS 2018. This data driven competition asked participants to develop computer programs capable of solving supervised learning problems where the i.i.d. assumption did not hold. Large data sets w…
NeurIPS 2020 competition seeks to predict deep learning generalization.
problem Understanding and predicting generalization in deep learning models.
method Propose complexity measures to accurately predict generalization performance.
result A robust complexity measure could improve deep learning reliability.
Researchers improved Minecraft game performance using imitation learning.
problem Achieving state-of-the-art performance in immersive environments like Minecraft.
method Applied imitation learning to Minecraft, optimizing network architecture, loss function, and data augmentation.
result Reported stronger results than previous experiments, reaching second place in a competition.
Squirrel switches between optimizers for better performance.
problem Finding the best optimizer for a given problem.
method Switches between different optimizers based on performance.
result Improves performance on various problems.
New machine learning pipeline solves dynamic vehicle routing problems efficiently.
problem Efficiently handling same day deliveries in e-commerce logistics.
method Combination of machine learning and combinatorial optimization.
result Ranked first in the EURO Meets NeurIPS Vehicle Routing Competition.
MineRL Competition reduced reinforcement learning sample needs.
problem Sample inefficiency in reinforcement learning.
method Human demonstrations and imitation learning integrated into reinforcement learning algorithms.
result Top solutions used deep reinforcement learning and imitation learning.
Challenge hides and seeks privacy in clinical time-series data.
problem De-identifying clinical time-series data while preserving utility and privacy.
method Synthetic data generation to preserve temporal dynamics and limit re-identification risk.
result A novel competition tracks synthetic data generation and patient re-identification.
Improved reinforcement learning in Minecraft with human demonstrations.
problem Sample inefficiency in reinforcement learning.
method Training policy networks on human demonstrations first, then fine-tuning with reinforcement learning.
result Best agent achieved a mean score of 48 in Minecraft.
Bayesian optimization outperformed random search in machine learning hyperparameter tuning challenge.
problem Optimizing hyperparameters of machine learning models using derivative-free methods.
method Bayesian optimization vs. random search on real datasets.
result Bayesian optimization significantly outperformed random search in held-out objective functions.
This is the Proceedings of NeurIPS 2018 Workshop on Machine Learning for the Developing World: Achieving Sustainable Impact, held in Montreal, Canada on December 8, 2018
This volume represents the accepted submissions from the Machine Learning for Health (ML4H) workshop at the conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2018, held on December 8, 2018 in Montreal, Canada.
Improved disentanglement in VAEs using aggregated feature maps.
problem Improving disentanglement in Variational Autoencoders (VAEs).
method Regionally aggregated feature maps extracted from pre-trained CNNs on ImageNet.
result 2nd place in NeurIPS 2019 disentanglement challenge.
Improved deep neural network generalization through noise resilience.
problem Understanding and predicting generalization error of deep neural networks.
method Noise resilience measures to predict generalization error.
result Secured 5th position in the PGDL competition at NeurIPS 2020.
New property ensures neural networks generalize well with limited data.
problem Limited training data limits model generalization in neural networks.
method Introduces NeuRIP, a uniform concentration event for ReLU networks.
result All shallow ReLU networks generalize uniformly if they achieve NeuRIP.
New algorithms predict causal links better than traditional methods in time series data.
problem Learning causal structure from time series data with challenges in real-world Earth sciences.
method Combination of established ideas for linear methods to identify causal links in non-linear systems, with a focus on large regression coefficients.
result Large regression coefficients can predict causal links better than small p-values in practice.
The Pommerman simulation was recently developed to mimic the classic Japanese game Bomberman, and focuses on competitive gameplay in a multi-agent setting. We focus on the 2×2 team version of Pommerman, developed for a competition at NeurIPS 2018. Our methodology involves training an agent initially through imit…
Competition aims to develop sample-efficient reinforcement learning methods.
problem Limited access to samples in reinforcement learning.
method Develops algorithms leveraging human demonstrations in Minecraft.
result Fosters innovation in sample-efficient reinforcement learning.
NeurIPS 2019 program improves reproducibility in machine learning.
problem Ensuring machine learning research results are reproducible and reliable.
method Code submission policy, reproducibility challenge, and checklist integration.
result Improved reproducibility standards across the machine learning community.
Deep RL drone trained to compete against classical path planning in drone racing.
problem Optimizing long-term drone racing strategies using reinforcement learning.
method Used PPO algorithm on a simulated quadrotor in a racing environment created with AirSim.
result Deep RL agent outperformed classical path planning in drone racing competitions.
AI agents beat previous best on NetHack, but symbolic bots still outperform.
problem Developing AI agents that can ascend in the NetHack game.
method Used a procedurally generated NetHack Learning Environment for reinforcement learning.
result Symbolic bots outperform neural approaches on NetHack.
We describe the submission of the Quo Vadis team to the Traffic4cast competition, which was organized as part of the NeurIPS 2019 series of challenges. Our system consists of a temporal regression module, implemented as 1×1 2d convolutions, augmented with spatio-temporal biases. We have found that using biases i…
A collection of the accepted abstracts for the Machine Learning for Health (ML4H) workshop at NeurIPS 2019. This index is not complete, as some accepted abstracts chose to opt-out of inclusion.
Carefully crafted, often imperceptible, adversarial perturbations have been shown to cause state-of-the-art models to yield extremely inaccurate outputs, rendering them unsuitable for safety-critical application domains. In addition, recent work has shown that constraining the attack space to a low frequency regime is …
Improved disentanglement through learned feature aggregation.
problem Disentangling latent factors in images.
method Variational autoencoder trained on regionally aggregated feature maps from ImageNet.
result 2nd place in NeurIPS 2019 disentanglement challenge.
New adaptive attacks bypass many defenses to adversarial examples.
problem Adversarial example defenses are not adequately evaluated using adaptive attacks.
method Detailed analysis of thirteen defenses, demonstrating their vulnerabilities to adaptive attacks.
result Adversarial example defenses are more vulnerable to adaptive attacks than previously thought.
Improved algorithm for contextual bandits with reduced regret.
problem Adversarial contextual bandits with i.i.d. contexts.
method Oracle-efficient relaxation with O(T32(Klog(∣Π∣))31) regret bound. result First to improve regret bound and match original bound for stochastic case.
Catalyst.RL accelerates RL research with efficient training.
problem Efficient reinforcement learning training in complex environments.
method Open-source PyTorch framework with distributed training and RL algorithms.
result Catalyst.RL achieved 2nd place in a computationally expensive RL challenge.
Objective: To determine the completeness of argumentative steps necessary to conclude effectiveness of an algorithm in a sample of current ML/AI supervised learning literature. Data Sources: Papers published in the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS, née NIPS) journal where the official record showed a 2017…
Improved learning bounds for corrupted data using thresholded gradient descent.
problem Learning from corrupted data with adversarial noise.
method Thresholded gradient descent for sigmoidal, leaky-ReLU, and ReLU activations.
result Improved approximation bounds for various activation functions.
PowRL uses RL to manage power grids robustly, reducing overloads and maintaining power reliability.
problem Managing transient stability and preventing blackouts in power networks with uncertain generation and load demands.
method PowRL leverages a novel heuristic for overload management and RL-guided topology selection to ensure safe and reliable operation.
result PowRL outperforms other agents in L2RPN challenges, demonstrating robust performance in various scenarios.
Study shows simple vector quantization measures correlate with deep learning generalization.
problem Understanding and predicting generalization in deep learning models.
method Applying complexity measures from approximation and information theory to deep learning features.
result Simple vector quantization measures correlate well with generalization performance in deep learning.
In the NeurIPS 2018 Artificial Intelligence for Prosthetics challenge, participants were tasked with building a controller for a musculoskeletal model with a goal of matching a given time-varying velocity vector. Top participants were invited to describe their algorithms. In this work, we describe the challenge and pre…
This work is a reproducibility study of the paper of Antoniou and Storkey [2019], published at NeurIPS 2019. Our results are in parts similar to the ones reported in the original paper, supporting the central claim of the paper that the proposed novel method, called Self-Critique and Adapt (SCA), improves the performan…
Improved privacy-preserving methods for estimating multiple samples from distributions.
problem Estimating multiple samples from distributions while maintaining privacy.
method Developed new multi-sampling techniques for differentially private data estimation.
result Achieved significant reduction in sample complexity for multi-sampling from finite domains and Gaussian distributions.
While many solutions for privacy-preserving convex empirical risk minimization (ERM) have been developed, privacy-preserving nonconvex ERM remains a challenge. We study nonconvex ERM, which takes the form of minimizing a finite-sum of nonconvex loss functions over a training set. We propose a new differentially private…
Survey on random features for kernel approximation, focusing on algorithms, theory, and practical applications.
problem Efficiently approximating kernel methods for large-scale problems.
method Random features techniques to speed up kernel methods.
result Need for a high number of random features for good approximation quality.
We study a multiplayer stochastic multi-armed bandit problem in which players cannot communicate, and if two or more players pull the same arm, a collision occurs and the involved players receive zero reward. We consider the challenging heterogeneous setting, in which different arms may have different means for differe…
Unsupervised learning of disentangled representations is an open problem in machine learning. The Disentanglement-PyTorch library is developed to facilitate research, implementation, and testing of new variational algorithms. In this modular library, neural architectures, dimensionality of the latent space, and the tra…
New findings show limitations in converting private learning to online learning efficiently.
problem Limitations in converting private learning to online learning efficiently.
method Assuming one-way functions, we show an efficient conversion from pure-private learners to online learners is impossible.
result Efficient conversion from pure-private learners to online learners is impossible under certain assumptions.
We consider adversarial examples for image classification in the black-box decision-based setting. Here, an attacker cannot access confidence scores, but only the final label. Most attacks for this scenario are either unreliable or inefficient. Focusing on the latter, we show that a specific class of attacks, Boundary …
Enhances CMS with Bayesian nonparametrics for better low-frequency token estimation.
problem Improving frequency estimation of low-frequency tokens in data streams.
method Integrates Bayesian nonparametrics (Pitman-Yor process) into CMS for more accurate frequency estimation.
result CMS-PYP outperforms CMS and CMS-DP in estimating low-frequency tokens.
Ringmaster ASGD improves Asynchronous SGD's efficiency under varying worker times.
problem Suboptimal performance of Asynchronous SGD under heterogeneous worker computation times.
method Ringmaster ASGD, a novel Asynchronous SGD method with optimal time complexity.
result Ringmaster ASGD achieves optimal time complexity under arbitrary worker heterogeneity.
Schedule-free SGD is optimal for nonconvex optimization problems.
problem Nonconvex optimization in neural networks.
method Developed a general framework for online-to-nonconvex conversion, which converts schedule-free SGD into an effective nonconvex optimization algorithm.
result Schedule-free SGD achieves optimal iteration complexity for nonsmooth, nonconvex optimization problems.
We identify a trade-off between robustness and accuracy that serves as a guiding principle in the design of defenses against adversarial examples. Although this problem has been widely studied empirically, much remains unknown concerning the theory underlying this trade-off. In this work, we decompose the prediction er…
Proposes CoPO, a new policy optimization method for competitive games.
problem Designing efficient optimization methods for competitive Markov decision processes.
method Competitive policy optimization (CoPO) approach that exploits game-theoretic nature of competitive games.
result Stable optimization, convergence to sophisticated strategies, and higher scores compared to baseline methods.
Kaggle competitions offer valuable insights for business forecasting.
problem Lack of attention to Kaggle competitions in academic forecasting studies.
method Review of results from six Kaggle competitions featuring real-life business forecasting tasks.
result Global ensemble models outperform local single models in Kaggle competitions.
In this paper we introduce a new approach to topic modelling that scales to large datasets by using a compact representation of the data and by leveraging the GPU architecture. In this approach, topics are learned directly from the co-occurrence data of the corpus. In particular, we introduce a novel mixture model whic…