Proposes a VAE with a discrete bottleneck for better text generation.
problem VAEs struggle with latent variable auto-regressive decoding in text generation.
method Introduces a discretized bottleneck to enforce latent feature matching in a compact space.
result Demonstrates improved text generation capabilities across various tasks.
Information bottleneck (IB) is a technique for extracting information in one random variable X that is relevant for predicting another random variable Y. IB works by encoding X in a compressed "bottleneck" random variable M from which Y can be accurately decoded. However, finding the optimal bottleneck variab…
MO2 learns useful behaviours from past experience for new tasks.
problem Discovering useful behaviours from past experience and transferring them to new tasks.
method Model-Based Offline Options (MO2) framework supporting sample-efficient bottleneck option discovery over continuous state-action spaces.
result MO2 outperforms recent option learning methods on complex long-horizon continuous control tasks.
Deep reinforcement learning has recently shown many impressive successes. However, one major obstacle towards applying such methods to real-world problems is their lack of data-efficiency. To this end, we propose the Bottleneck Simulator: a model-based reinforcement learning method which combines a learned, factorized …
Improved training for VQ-VAE models with robust codebook learning.
problem Challenges in training discrete latent variable models, especially VQ-VAEs.
method Increased learning rate and periodic re-initialization of codebook for robust training.
result More robust training and increased usage of latent codewords, even for large codebooks.
New estimators for intrinsic dimension and Wasserstein distance improve OT accuracy.
problem Intrinsic dimension estimation and Wasserstein distance estimation in large-scale OT.
method Introduces novel estimators for intrinsic dimension and Wasserstein distance.
result Simple, tuning-free estimator of OT and fast intrinsic dimension estimator.
This tutorial paper focuses on the variants of the bottleneck problem taking an information theoretic perspective and discusses practical methods to solve it, as well as its connection to coding and learning aspects. The intimate connections of this setting to remote source-coding under logarithmic loss distortion meas…
Reduces IB problem to a simpler, lower-dimensional problem.
problem Information bottleneck problem in high-dimensional spaces.
method Identifies sufficient statistic that factors conditional distribution, reducing IB to a lower-dimensional problem.
result Preserves full IB curve and optimal representations, making IB tractable.
Foundation models fail to preserve continuous geometry, identified as the Geometric Alignment Tax.
problem Continuous geometry is lost in foundation models due to discrete categorical bottlenecks.
method Controlled ablations on synthetic systems and evaluation of 14 biological models using rate-distortion theory and MINE.
result Replacing cross-entropy with a continuous head reduces geometric distortion by up to 8.5x.
Discrete Flow Maps bypass sequential prediction limits for parallel text generation.
problem Sequential autoregressive prediction limits large language model speed.
method Flow Maps compress generative trajectories into single-step mappings.
result Discrete Flow Maps surpass previous state-of-the-art results in discrete flow modeling.
Algorithm maps trade-off between clustering fidelity and representation size.
problem Optimizing trade-off between clustering fidelity and representation size.
method Introduces primal Deterministic Information Bottleneck (DIB) problem for discrete search spaces.
result Shows richer Pareto frontier over Lagrangian relaxation.
Implicit schemes are popular methods for the integration of time dependent PDEs such as hyperbolic and parabolic PDEs. However the necessity to solve corresponding linear systems at each time step constitutes a complexity bottleneck in their application to PDEs with rough coefficients. We present a generalization of ga…
Variable speed limits (VSL) control is a flexible way to improve traffic condition,increase safety and reduce emission. There is an emerging trend of using reinforcement learning technique for VSL control and recent studies have shown promising results. Currently, deep learning is enabling reinforcement learning to dev…
Deep neural network learns discrete state abstractions for efficient planning.
problem Efficient sequential decision making in large state spaces.
method Information bottleneck method for learning approximate bisimulations using deep neural encoders and action-conditioned HMM.
result Trained method efficiently plans for unseen goals in multi-goal reinforcement learning.
Deep neural networks with discrete latent variables offer the promise of better symbolic reasoning, and learning abstractions that are more useful to new tasks. There has been a surge in interest in discrete latent variable models, however, despite several recent improvements, the training of discrete latent variable m…
A new method uses Coordinate Descent to optimize ResNet networks for private inference.
problem Reducing ReLU count in ResNet networks for private inference.
method Directly optimizing in the discrete domain using Coordinate Descent.
result Our method yields a sparse solution and is state-of-the-art.
SHIFT method optimally estimates heterogeneous discrete distributions with limited communication.
problem Collaborative learning of discrete distributions under heterogeneity and communication constraints.
method Two-stage method: First, users learn a central distribution; then, fine-tune this to estimate individual distributions.
result SHIFT is minimax optimal in the model of heterogeneity and under communication constraints.
New research shows non-bottlenecked autoencoders can outperform bottlenecked ones for anomaly detection.
problem The necessity of a bottleneck in autoencoders for anomaly detection.
method Investigated two ways to remove bottlenecks: overparameterising the latent layer and introducing skip connections. Carried out extensive experiments on various AE types and datasets.
result Non-bottlenecked autoencoders can outperform bottlenecked ones, improving anomaly detection performance.
SCBMs model causal effects using low-dimensional bottlenecks.
problem Causal effect estimation in high-dimensional systems.
method Structural causal models with low-dimensional summary statistics.
result SCBMs provide a flexible framework for task-specific dimension reduction.
Softmax is an output activation function for modeling categorical probability distributions in many applications of deep learning. However, a recent study revealed that softmax can be a bottleneck of representational capacity of neural networks in language modeling (the softmax bottleneck). In this paper, we propose an…
GRAND treats GNNs as PDE discretizations, addressing graph learning issues.
problem Graph learning issues like depth, oversmoothing, and bottlenecks.
method Models GNNs as a continuous diffusion process, treating them as PDE discretizations.
result Linear and nonlinear versions of GRAND achieve competitive results on graph benchmarks.
There has recently been much work on the "wide limit" of neural networks, where Bayesian neural networks (BNNs) are shown to converge to a Gaussian process (GP) as all hidden layers are sent to infinite width. However, these results do not apply to architectures that require one or more of the hidden layers to remain n…
We consider the problem of inference in discrete probabilistic models, that is, distributions over subsets of a finite ground set. These encompass a range of well-known models in machine learning, such as determinantal point processes and Ising models. Locally-moving Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms, such as the Gib…
Study shows bottlenecks improve image segmentation quality.
problem Robust object discovery in real-world images remains challenging.
method Empirical investigation of reconstruction bottlenecks in GENESIS model.
result Reconstruction bottlenecks determine reconstruction and segmentation quality.
Deep ResNets favor low bottleneck rank with proper hyperparameters.
problem Understanding the inductive bias of deep neural networks.
method Computed minimum-norm weights of a deep linear ResNet.
result Deep nonlinear ResNets have an inductive bias towards minimizing bottleneck rank.
PRISM-VQ combines financial priors with vector quantization for better stock prediction.
problem Predicting cross-sectional stock returns is hard due to low signal-to-noise ratios and changing market conditions.
method Integrates expert priors, vector-quantized latent factors, and dynamic factor loadings.
result Consistent improvements in cross-sectional return prediction and portfolio performance.
In a variety of research areas, the weighted bag of vectors and the histogram are widely used descriptors for complex objects. Both can be expressed as discrete distributions. D2-clustering pursues the minimum total within-cluster variation for a set of discrete distributions subject to the Kantorovich-Wasserstein metr…
CB-APM uses analyst consensus as a bottleneck to interpret stock returns.
problem Tackles the challenge of understanding and predicting stock returns using professional beliefs.
method Embeds analyst consensus as a structural bottleneck, treating it as a sufficient statistic for market information.
result CB-APM portfolios exhibit strong monotonic return gradients and robust across different economic conditions.
Wide neural networks become linear, but adding bottlenecks makes them bilinear or multilinear.
problem Understanding the transition of neural networks from linearity to higher-order functions.
method Analyzing the behavior of randomly initialized wide neural networks with and without bottleneck layers.
result Bottleneck layers transform the network's function from linear to bilinear or multilinear.
New method quantifies redundant information using information bottleneck.
problem Quantifying redundant information among multiple sources.
method Formulated as an information bottleneck problem, termed redundancy bottleneck.
result Extracts information that best predicts the target without revealing source identity.
Improved vector quantization using Gaussian mixtures for better codebook utilization.
problem Training instability and information loss in discrete vector quantization.
method Generalized vector quantization with Gaussian mixture model and aggregated categorical posterior evidence lower bound.
result GM-VQ improves codebook utilization and reduces information loss without heuristics.
There is a pressing need to build an architecture that could subsume these networks under a unified framework that achieves both higher performance and less overhead. To this end, two fundamental issues are yet to be addressed. The first one is how to implement the back propagation when neuronal activations are discret…
The Mahler volume of a centrally symmetric convex body K is defined as M(K)= (Vol K)(Vol K^dual). Mahler conjectured that this volume is minimized when K is a cube. We introduce the bottleneck conjecture, which stipulates that a certain convex body K^diamond subset K X K^dual has least volume when K is an ellipsoid. If…
The Information bottleneck method is an unsupervised non-parametric data organization technique. Given a joint distribution P(A,B), this method constructs a new variable T that extracts partitions, or clusters, over the values of A that are informative about B. The information bottleneck has already been applied to doc…
Graph neural networks struggle to propagate long-range information, causing over-squashing.
problem Graph neural networks struggle to propagate long-range information.
method Identified over-squashing as the bottleneck in GNNs, demonstrated on various models.
result Breaking the bottleneck improves GNNs' performance on long-range problems.
In this paper, we provide an information-theoretic interpretation of the Vector Quantized-Variational Autoencoder (VQ-VAE). We show that the loss function of the original VQ-VAE can be derived from the variational deterministic information bottleneck (VDIB) principle. On the other hand, the VQ-VAE trained by the Expect…
MPNNs struggle with class-bottlenecks and heterophily, leading to performance limitations.
problem Performance limitations of MPNNs under heterophily and structural bottlenecks.
method A statistical framework decomposing model performance into SNR components and proving bounds on sensitivity.
result Optimal graph structures for maximizing higher-order homophily are disjoint unions of single-class and two-class-bipartite clusters.
Combining the Information Bottleneck model with deep learning by replacing mutual information terms with deep neural nets has proved successful in areas ranging from generative modelling to interpreting deep neural networks. In this paper, we revisit the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck and the assumptions neede…
Proposes Decodable Information Bottleneck for optimal representation learning.
problem Finding optimal representations for supervised learning.
method Integrates information retention and compression with the desired predictive family.
result Optimal representations lead to better expected test performance and can be estimated with guarantees.
We introduce the HSIC (Hilbert-Schmidt independence criterion) bottleneck for training deep neural networks. The HSIC bottleneck is an alternative to the conventional cross-entropy loss and backpropagation that has a number of distinct advantages. It mitigates exploding and vanishing gradients, resulting in the ability…
PCBMs turn any neural network into interpretable models without dense annotations.
problem Restrictive nature of CBMs and lack of dense concept annotations in training data.
method Introduce PCBMs that can turn any neural network into interpretable models without dense annotations.
result PCBMs can turn any neural network into interpretable models without dense annotations, improving interpretability and performance.
The paper identifies network bottlenecks using minimax paths in stochastic networks.
problem Identifying bottlenecks in networks with stochastic weights.
method Modeling as combinatorial semi-bandit problem, applying combinatorial Thompson Sampling, and approximating the original objective due to computational intractability.
result Established an upper bound on Bayesian regret and evaluated Thompson Sampling performance on real-world networks.
CIB compresses variables causally, preserving key causal interactions.
problem Constructing causal variable abstractions in complex systems.
method Causal Information Bottleneck (CIB) method, extending IB to include causal structures.
result CIB produces causally interpretable abstractions that accurately capture causal relations.
This work analyzes how bottleneck layers and skip connections affect linear denoising autoencoders' generalization.
problem Understanding the generalization of linear denoising autoencoders in overparameterized regimes.
method Analyzes two-layer linear denoising autoencoders with a bottleneck layer and skip connection, deriving test risk formulas.
result Bottleneck layers introduce an additional complexity measure, while skip connections can mitigate variance.
We present Piano Genie, an intelligent controller which allows non-musicians to improvise on the piano. With Piano Genie, a user performs on a simple interface with eight buttons, and their performance is decoded into the space of plausible piano music in real time. To learn a suitable mapping procedure for this proble…
Deep latent variable models are powerful tools for representation learning. In this paper, we adopt the deep information bottleneck model, identify its shortcomings and propose a model that circumvents them. To this end, we apply a copula transformation which, by restoring the invariance properties of the information b…
Proposes a new method to selectively access privileged information in reinforcement learning.
problem Selective compression of privileged information in reinforcement learning.
method Formulates a variational bandwidth bottleneck to decide stochastically whether to access privileged information.
result Improves generalization and reduces access to costly information in reinforcement learning experiments.
HCBM improves deep learning explainability by non-linear concept aggregation.
problem Lack of explainable and accurate predictions in deep learning for high-stake decisions.
method Introduce Hoeffding Concept Bottleneck Models (HCBM) using Hoeffding functional decomposition of gradient-boosted trees for non-linear and sparse concept aggregation.
result HCBM outperforms standard linear CBM and is robust to interconcept leakage.