New framework assesses extreme errors in machine learning models.
problem Current validation methods fail to quantify extreme errors in high-stakes domains.
method Uses Extreme Value Theory (EVT) to estimate worst-case failures.
result Establishes EVT as a fundamental tool for assessing model reliability.
Greedy policies perform poorly in imperfectly observed contextual bandits.
problem Performance of Greedy policies in bandits with partially observed contexts.
method Analysis of Greedy reinforcement learning policies under imperfectly observed contextual bandits.
result Worst-case regret grows poly-logarithmically with the time horizon and the failure probability.
Researchers develop PAIN to improve self-driving safety through adversarial training.
problem Overfitting and poor generalizability of neural networks in self-driving vehicles.
method PAIN combines adversarial training in CARLA simulation to generate edge cases.
result Trained self-driving vehicles are more resilient to environmental uncertainty and less prone to collisions.
Mitigates DeFi liquidations with reversible call options.
problem Systemic failures in DeFi due to liquidations.
method Introduces reversible call options to prevent liquidations.
result Reduces liquidated collateral by 89.82% in simulations.
To improve the resilience of distributed training to worst-case, or Byzantine node failures, several recent approaches have replaced gradient averaging with robust aggregation methods. Such techniques can have high computational costs, often quadratic in the number of compute nodes, and only have limited robustness gua…
High-dimensional unimodal distributions can cause MCMC methods to fail.
problem Failure of MCMC methods in high-dimensional unimodal distributions.
method Examples and theoretical analysis of MCMC methods, including Metropolis-Hastings adjusted methods.
result MCMC methods can take an exponential run-time for high-dimensional unimodal distributions.
Paper proposes a new DRL algorithm optimizing Spectral Risk Measures for better risk management.
problem Inconsistencies and conservatism in existing risk measures in DRL.
method Optimizes a broader class of static Spectral Risk Measures (SRM) in DRL.
result Demonstrates improved performance over existing risk-neutral and risk-sensitive DRL models.
Paper tackles robustness in reward learning with partial identifiability.
problem Partial identifiability in reward learning leads to unreliable target reward recovery.
method Introduces a robust approach to maximize performance with respect to the worst-case reward in the feasible set.
result Develops Rob-ReL, an algorithm that maximizes performance under worst-case identifiability conditions.
The thesis presents a new perspective on high-dimensional optimization.
problem The failure point of classical optimization methods in high dimensions.
method A distributional view of optimization, focusing on random objective functions and Bayesian Optimization.
result The distributional view explains predictable progress in high-dimensional optimization and provides insights into optimal step size control.
Economics tool predicts failure times in reliability systems.
problem Predicting optimal failure times in weighted k-out-of-n reliability systems with heterogeneous component failure.
method Using rational expectations to analyze and predict failure times in reliability systems with heterogeneous component failure.
result Different measures are optimal for predicting system failure depending on component failure distributions.
Worst-Case Sensitivity measures model sensitivity to uncertainty set size.
problem Model sensitivity to uncertainty set size in Distributionally Robust Optimization.
method Introducing Worst-Case Sensitivity as a measure of model sensitivity, and deriving closed-form expressions for various uncertainty sets.
result DRO solutions can be sensitive to the family and size of the uncertainty set, and worst-case sensitivity reflects these properties.
Unified model predicts multi-mode failure with multi-sensor data.
problem Independent failure mode and RUL prediction ignores inherent relationship.
method Hierarchical Bayesian framework with Cox model, Gaussian process, and multinomial distributions.
result Robust uncertainty quantification and accurate prediction of multi-mode failure.
PAGER detects failures in deep regression models using a new framework.
problem Detecting failures in deep regression models.
method PAGER uses a combination of epistemic uncertainty and manifold non-conformity scores.
result PAGER accurately characterizes and detects failures in deep regressors.
Worst-case risk measures refer to the calculation of the largest value for risk measures when only partial information of the underlying distribution is available. For the popular risk measures such as Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR), it is now known that their worst-case counterparts can be ev…
Paper improves worst-case regret bounds for RLSVI in reinforcement learning.
problem Minimizing regret in reinforcement learning with randomized value functions.
method Introduces a clipping variant of Thompson Sampling for RLSVI.
result Achieves a i l d e O ( H 2 S A T ) ilde{\mathrm{O}}(H^2S\sqrt{AT}) i l d e O ( H 2 S A T ) worst-case regret bound. Risk Advisor predicts and mitigates ML deployment failures.
problem Predicting and mitigating test-time failure risks of ML systems.
method Post-hoc meta-learner for estimating failure risks and uncertainties.
result Reliably predicts deployment-time failure risks across various ML models.
CalNF models rare failures with limited data, improving safety in autonomous systems.
problem Challenges in modeling and debugging rare safety-critical failures due to limited data.
method CalNF, a self-regularized framework for posterior learning from limited data.
result Achieves state-of-the-art performance on data-limited failure modeling and inverse problems.
Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is an emerging engineering discipline which is concerned with the analysis and prediction of equipment health and performance. One of the key challenges in PHM is to accurately predict impending failures in the equipment. In recent years, solutions for failure prediction have evo…
This work improves safety validation of autonomous vehicles by finding interpretable failures.
problem Finding interpretable failures of autonomous systems in simulation.
method Signal temporal logic expressions optimized for high likelihood and human interpretability.
result Our methodology finds more interpretable failures with higher likelihood compared to baseline approaches.
Framework predicts remaining useful life of DSH subsystems under unknown failure modes.
problem Predicting remaining useful life of DSH subsystems with unknown failure modes.
method Unsupervised framework using mixture of Gaussian regressions and Expectation-Maximization algorithm.
result Improved prediction accuracy and interpretability of RUL.
The book explores alternatives to worst-case analysis for algorithm performance.
problem Providing strong worst-case guarantees for many algorithms is impossible.
method Surveying and detailing various nuanced analysis approaches.
result More nuanced analysis approaches are needed for fundamental problems.
Optimizes bond portfolios to avoid worst-case losses.
problem Finding the worst-case value of a bond portfolio over a range of yield curves and spreads.
method Solves a convex-concave saddle point optimization problem to find the worst-case value and construct a robust portfolio.
result Constructs a bond portfolio that includes the worst-case value, ensuring robustness against market uncertainties.
The paper calculates the likelihood of a financial market failure involving multiple major banks.
problem Estimating the probability of a market failure involving multiple globally important banks.
method Multivariate Cox process across G-SIBs, deriving various theorems on market failure probabilities.
result The probability of a market failure increases with the number of G-SIBs and is inevitable if there are too many.
Paper proposes a method to predict disk failures using multi-layer domain adaptive learning.
problem Traditional machine learning models struggle to predict disk failures due to limited data.
method Multi-layer domain adaptive learning with source and target domains.
result The proposed method improves failure prediction accuracy on disk data with few failure samples.
We aim to predict and explain service failures in supply-chain networks, more precisely among last-mile pickup and delivery services to customers. We analyze a dataset of 500,000 services using (1) supervised classification with Random Forests, and (2) Association Rules. Our classifier reaches an average sensitivity of…
GE finds failures in autonomous systems without domain heuristics.
problem Finding failures in autonomous systems without domain-specific heuristics.
method Adaptive stress testing using go-explore (GE) algorithm.
result GE finds failures in scenarios other RL techniques cannot solve.
Method distinguishes between failures and domain shifts in industrial data streams.
problem Confusing domain shifts with failures in industrial data.
method Modified Page-Hinkley changepoint detector and supervised domain-adaptation-based anomaly detection.
result Allows differentiation between failures and domain shifts.
This paper calculates worst-case target semi-variances for uncertain losses.
problem Managing risk when loss distribution is uncertain and only partial information is known.
method Derives worst-case target semi-variances for symmetric or non-negative losses under uncertainty sets representing investor's undesirable scenarios.
result Closed-form expressions for worst-case target semi-variances are derived.
System predicts respiratory failure up to 8 hours early.
problem Early detection of respiratory failure in ICU patients.
method Machine learning on ICU patient monitoring data.
result System outperforms traditional clinical decision-making.
New method avoids failures in physics-constrained systems using active learning.
problem Handling fatal failures in systems governed by physics constraints.
method Develops a novel active learning method that considers implicit physics constraints.
result Achieves zero-failure in composite fuselage assembly process without explicit failure regions.
This paper addresses the problem of evaluating learning systems in safety critical domains such as autonomous driving, where failures can have catastrophic consequences. We focus on two problems: searching for scenarios when learned agents fail and assessing their probability of failure. The standard method for agent e…
DeepSIP predicts network failures' impact using CNN from syslog and traffic data.
problem Predicting service impact from network failures.
method Temporal multimodal CNN for predicting time to recovery and traffic loss.
result DeepSIP reduced prediction error by approximately 50%.
In the last two years, more than 200 papers have been written on how machine learning (ML) systems can fail because of adversarial attacks on the algorithms and data; this number balloons if we were to incorporate papers covering non-adversarial failure modes. The spate of papers has made it difficult for ML practition…
Two BO methods improve reliability optimization for rare failures.
problem Maximizing reliability of designs subject to random perturbations.
method Bayesian optimization with Thompson sampling and knowledge gradient.
result Proposed methods outperform existing techniques in extreme failure probability scenarios.
New framework identifies worst-case shifts for predictive resource allocation models.
problem Identifying harmful shifts in predictive models for resource allocation.
method Hierarchical model structure and submodular optimization for worst-case loss.
result Empirical evidence shows divergent worst-case shifts identified by different metrics.
New method finds failures in high-fidelity simulators with fewer steps.
problem Finding failures in high-fidelity simulators is expensive and impractical.
method Adaptive stress testing with backward algorithm adaptation from low-fidelity to high-fidelity.
result Significantly fewer high-fidelity simulation steps needed to find failures.
Entropy-based GP adaptive design improves failure probability estimation.
problem Limited accuracy in failure probability estimation due to model evaluation costs.
method Entropy-based Gaussian process (GP) adaptive design combined with multifidelity importance sampling (MFIS).
result More accurate failure probability estimates and higher confidence.
Brain uses synaptic failure to sample from posterior distributions.
problem Bayesian inference in the brain's probabilistic computations.
method Adapting synaptic failure to sample posterior predictive distributions.
result Synaptic failure enables sampling of complete posterior predictive distributions.
Proposes a new framework for balancing average- and worst-case performance in machine learning.
problem Robustness issues in machine learning, especially in safety-critical domains.
method Probabilistic robustness framework that balances average- and worst-case performance.
result Effective algorithm balances average- and worst-case performance with lower computational cost.
Study approximates worst-case stock trading under uncertainty, quantifying sensitivity.
problem Maximizing worst-case cost of stock gains and losses under uncertainty.
method Approximates worst-case problem by baseline problem as uncertainty vanishes.
result Value of worst-case problem equals baseline value plus correction term.
Study constructs balanced datasets for seismic failure prediction.
problem Imbalanced datasets limit machine learning performance in seismic failure prediction.
method Framework with three steps: GMF identification, probability density estimation, and sample transformation.
result Framework improves machine learning performance in seismic failure mode prediction.
Proposes a deep neural network for early disk drive failure prediction.
problem Early prediction of disk drive failure using multivariate time series sensor data.
method Enriched features derived from sensor data through transformations, combined with ensemble learning and deep neural network architecture.
result Significantly improved classification accuracy in predicting disk drive failure.
Improves FI-PINNs by combining re-sampling and subset simulation for better failure probability estimation.
problem Estimating failure probability in physics-informed neural networks (PINNs).
method Adaptive sampling with re-sampling and subset simulation, using cosine-annealing for uniform to adaptive transition.
result Significant improvement in estimating failure probability and generating new training points in the failure region.
A new algorithm learns from failures to optimize under constraints efficiently.
problem Optimizing under unknown constraints with limited failure tolerance.
method Excursion search controls risk as a function of a failure budget.
result The algorithm achieves lower regret and uses failures budget more efficiently.
Determining possible failure scenarios is a critical step in the evaluation of autonomous vehicle systems. Real-world vehicle testing is commonly employed for autonomous vehicle validation, but the costs and time requirements are high. Consequently, simulation-driven methods such as Adaptive Stress Testing (AST) have b…
Machine learning (ML) training algorithms often possess an inherent self-correcting behavior due to their iterative-convergent nature. Recent systems exploit this property to achieve adaptability and efficiency in unreliable computing environments by relaxing the consistency of execution and allowing calculation errors…
Framework for worst-case generation using Wasserstein space optimization.
problem Evaluating robustness and stress-testing systems under distribution shifts.
method Min-max optimization over continuous probability distributions in Wasserstein space.
result Global convergence guarantees for the proposed Gradient Descent Ascent scheme.
New approach uses dynamic programming to efficiently discover failures in autonomous vehicle simulations.
problem Efficiently discovering rare failure events in autonomous vehicle simulations.
method Approximate dynamic programming and scene decomposition to estimate failure distribution.
result Increased number of failures discovered compared to baseline approaches.