Proposes efficient Gaussian approximations for non-Gaussian likelihoods.
problem Computational challenges in learning and inference with non-Gaussian likelihoods.
method Variational inference and moment matching in transformed bases.
result Good approximation quality for binary and multiclass classification.
SNVI combines likelihood estimation with variational inference for efficient Bayesian inference.
problem Bayesian inference in models with intractable likelihoods.
method Sequential Neural Variational Inference (SNVI) that combines likelihood-estimation with variational inference.
result SNVI is more computationally efficient than previous algorithms without sacrificing accuracy.
In likelihood-free settings where likelihood evaluations are intractable, approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) addresses the formidable inference task to discover plausible parameters of simulation programs that explain the observations. However, they demand large quantities of simulation calls. Critically, hyperpara…
This study benchmarks likelihood-free inference methods for models with heavy-tailed or discrete data.
problem Comparing likelihood-free inference methods for models with structural features like heavy-tails or discreteness.
method Four approaches: MLE, NBE, EOT, and AW-NBE are evaluated using simulations.
result The choice of evaluation tools is crucial for models with extremes and discrete data.
Simplifies inference for simulators with or without tractable likelihoods.
problem Inference for models with intractable likelihoods.
method Amortized simulation-based frequentist inference.
result Valid confidence sets for parameter inference.
This paper develops embeddings that preserve likelihood-based statistical inference.
problem Modern machine learning embeddings destroy the geometric structure required for likelihood-based inference.
method Developed a rigorous theory of likelihood-preserving embeddings and introduced the Likelihood-Ratio Distortion metric.
result Controlling the distortion Δn is necessary and sufficient for preserving inference. Improves hyperparameter learning in GP models with non-conjugate likelihoods.
problem Hyperparameter learning entangled with approximate inference in GP models.
method Hybrid training procedure combining VI for inference and EP-like marginal likelihood approximation for hyperparameter learning.
result Empirically demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed training procedure across various data sets.
ALFI improves likelihood-free inference for black-box generators.
problem Limitations of likelihood-free inference on black-box generators.
method Adversarial Likelihood-Free Inference (ALFI) to estimate posterior distributions.
result ALFI achieves best parameter estimation accuracy with limited simulation.
Test log-likelihood comparisons can be misleading.
problem Misinterpretation of test log-likelihood in model comparison.
method Simple examples of model comparison and forecast accuracy.
result Test log-likelihood does not always correlate with model accuracy.
Deep Gaussian Processes improve likelihood-free inference for complex distributions.
problem Limited flexibility of Bayesian Optimization with GPs for multimodal distributions.
method Proposes Deep Gaussian Processes (DGPs) as a surrogate model for likelihood-free inference.
result DGPs outperform GPs on multimodal distributions while maintaining comparable performance on unimodal cases.
New method uses path signatures for efficient likelihood estimation in time-series data.
problem Intractable likelihood functions in complex dynamic models.
method Kernel classifier based on path signatures for sequential data.
result Path signatures yield highly performant classifiers, even with low sample numbers.
Improved diffusion sampling for inverse problems with faster and more robust inference.
problem High computational cost and lack of robustness in diffusion posterior sampling.
method Amortized variational inference with explicit likelihood guidance.
result Improved trade-off between inference speed and robustness to unseen degradations.
Unified contrastive learning for likelihood-free inference.
problem Parameter inference in models with intractable likelihood.
method Unified contrastive learning scheme for both density ratio and direct posterior estimation.
result Unified approach clarifies method selection and comparison.
MINIMALIST maximizes mutual information for likelihood estimation from simulated data.
problem Learning model parameters from likelihood functions that cannot be computed.
method Maximizes mutual information between simulated data and model parameters using neural networks.
result Different methods aiming at the same optimal energy form can be directly benchmarked.
Engine for Likelihood-Free Inference (ELFI) is a Python software library for performing likelihood-free inference (LFI). ELFI provides a convenient syntax for arranging components in LFI, such as priors, simulators, summaries or distances, to a network called ELFI graph. The components can be implemented in a wide vari…
Framework for Bayesian inference using GP emulated MH sampler for noisy likelihoods.
problem Approximate Bayesian inference with limited noisy log-likelihood evaluations.
method Gaussian process emulates MH sampler for log-likelihood evaluations; sequential experimental design selects evaluation points.
result Approximate sampler is sample-efficient and robust to GP assumptions.
Bayesian inference uses Stein discrepancy for robustness in intractable likelihoods.
problem Intractable likelihoods in Bayesian inference.
method Generalised Bayesian inference with Stein discrepancy as the loss function.
result Robust generalised posteriors with closed form or accessible using MCMC.
Likelihood-free inference is concerned with the estimation of the parameters of a non-differentiable stochastic simulator that best reproduce real observations. In the absence of a likelihood function, most of the existing inference methods optimize the simulator parameters through a handcrafted iterative procedure tha…
New method uses neural exponential families for likelihood-free inference.
problem Bayesian Likelihood-Free Inference with intractable likelihood.
method Score Matching neural conditional exponential families for approximate likelihood.
result State-of-the-art performance in posterior sampling for intractable likelihood models.
We consider the problem of parametric statistical inference when likelihood computations are prohibitively expensive but sampling from the model is possible. Several so-called likelihood-free methods have been developed to perform inference in the absence of a likelihood function. The popular synthetic likelihood appro…
Improves likelihood-free inference by using a new sampling approach to avoid biased data collection.
problem Efficient Bayesian inference without likelihood evaluation for real-world datasets.
method Introduces Neural Proposal (NP) to sample simulation inputs i.i.d. for unbiased posterior inference.
result Demonstrates improved performance, especially for multi-modal posteriors, through experiments.
Bayesian method infers contextual bandit policies robustly.
problem Inference of contextual bandit policies in small sample sizes.
method Empirical likelihood for Bayesian inference.
result Accurate uncertainty measurements and policy comparison.
New method uses Gaussian ODE filtering to approximate likelihoods for fast ODE inverse problems.
problem Intractable forward models in likelihood-free inference, especially for ODEs.
method Gaussian ODE filtering to construct local Gaussian likelihood approximations.
result New solvers outperform standard likelihood-free approaches on benchmark systems.
Improved neural likelihood estimation for SSMs with truncated-SNL.
problem Challenges in parameter inference for state-space models.
method Truncated-SNL: a novel inference algorithm addressing SNL's limitations.
result Truncated-SNL is more accurate, scalable, and sample-efficient.
Improved likelihood-free inference for high-dimensional models.
problem Challenges in likelihood-free inference for high-dimensional parameter spaces.
method Bayesian optimization-based approach with misspecification-robust characterisation.
result Efficient inference in 100-dimensional space with real data application.
Two synthetic likelihood methods learn EBM of likelihood from simulator data for SBI.
problem Conduct inference from experimental observations using high-fidelity simulators.
method Learn conditional EBM of likelihood using synthetic data conditioned on parameters.
result Learned likelihood combined with prior yields posterior estimate for sampling.
A new approach uses partial likelihood to improve tree-based density estimation and inference.
problem Inference on tree-based models suffers from overfitting and reduced efficiency due to data-independent partitioning.
method Proposes a partial likelihood approach to data-dependent partitioning of tree-based models.
result Significant gains in estimation accuracy and computational efficiency from adopting partial likelihood.
SSNL improves simulation-based inference for high-dimensional data.
problem Performance degradation in neural likelihood estimation for high-dimensional data.
method Surjective Sequential Neural Likelihood (SSNL) using surjective normalizing flow models.
result SSNL avoids manual crafting of summary statistics and outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
Likelihood-free inference refers to inference when a likelihood function cannot be explicitly evaluated, which is often the case for models based on simulators. Most of the literature is based on sample-based `Approximate Bayesian Computation' methods, but recent work suggests that approaches based on deep neural condi…
Pseudo-Likelihood Inference improves ABC for high-dimensional Bayesian inference.
problem Intractable likelihood in Bayesian system identification.
method PLI combines neural approximation with integral probability metrics and adaptive bandwidth.
result PLI outperforms SNPE on challenging tasks, especially with more data.
I consider two problems in machine learning and statistics: the problem of estimating the joint probability density of a collection of random variables, known as density estimation, and the problem of inferring model parameters when their likelihood is intractable, known as likelihood-free inference. The contribution o…
A new method improves likelihood-free Bayesian inference by transforming summary statistics and using efficient Variational Bayes.
problem Incorrectly assuming normally distributed summary statistics in likelihood-free Bayesian inference.
method Wasserstein Gaussianization transformation combined with robust BSL and efficient Variational Bayes.
result Highly efficient and reliable approximate Bayesian inference for likelihood-free problems.
New method improves simulation-based inference by avoiding model misspecification.
problem Inefficient parameter estimation for models with intractable likelihoods.
method Proposes a robust SNL method with additional adjustment parameters.
result Demonstrates more accurate point estimates and uncertainty quantification.
Unified approach for sequence design combining likelihood-free inference and black-box optimization.
problem Designing biological sequences efficiently and accurately.
method Unified probabilistic framework integrating likelihood-free inference and black-box optimization.
result Previous optimization methods can be adapted and new algorithms proposed within this framework.
A new framework bridges classical and machine learning methods for reliable inference from complex models.
problem Intractable likelihood functions in complex systems make classical statistics ineffective for likelihood-free inference.
method Likelihood-Free Frequentist Inference (LF2I) framework that combines classical statistics and machine learning.
result Valid confidence sets with near finite-sample validity can be constructed for any parameter value.
SNPLA uses normalizing flows for efficient inference in implicit models.
problem Efficient inference in implicit models with complex likelihood and posterior learning.
method Sequential Neural Posterior and Likelihood Approximation (SNPLA) algorithm using normalizing flows.
result SNPLA achieves competitive performance with faster posterior draws compared to MCMC methods.
A universal framework for constructing confidence sets using sequential likelihood mixing.
problem Constructing reliable confidence sets for realizable likelihood functions.
method Sequential likelihood mixing, integrating Bayesian inference and regret inequalities.
result Establishes fundamental connections and provable coverage guarantees for various inference techniques.
This work improves neural likelihood surrogates for stochastic models with a score-augmented loss.
problem Efficient parameter inference for stochastic models with computationally expensive likelihood functions.
method Score-augmented loss function for neural network likelihood surrogates.
result Improves surrogate quality at a lower computational cost compared to generating more data.
New machine learning methods for inference from simulated data.
problem Modeling score and likelihood ratio functions from sampled data.
method InferoStatic Networks (ISN), Kernel Score Estimation (KSE), Kernel Likelihood Ratio Estimation (KLRE).
result Improved inference methods for complex models.
New method for efficient inference in large datasets.
problem Statistical inference in massive datasets.
method Combines divide-and-conquer method and empirical likelihood.
result Reduces computation burden and demonstrates effectiveness.
Proposes ABC method for discrete data, improving likelihood-free inference.
problem Discrete data likelihood-free inference problems.
method Population-based MCMC ABC framework with a new Markov kernel inspired by Differential Evolution.
result High potential and superiority of the new Markov kernel demonstrated.
Increasingly complex generative models are being used across disciplines as they allow for realistic characterization of data, but a common difficulty with them is the prohibitively large computational cost to evaluate the likelihood function and thus to perform likelihood-based statistical inference. A likelihood-free…
Performing inference over simulators is generally intractable as their runtime means we cannot compute a marginal likelihood. We develop a likelihood-free inference method to infer parameters for a cardiac simulator, which replicates electrical flow through the heart to the body surface. We improve the fit of a state-o…
Deep learning and genetic algorithms speed up cosmological Bayesian inference.
problem Substantial computational demands in Bayesian inference for cosmological parameter estimation.
method Deep learning using feedforward neural networks to approximate likelihood functions dynamically, optimized with genetic algorithms.
result Significant speed-up in Bayesian inference process for cosmological models and datasets.
We consider Bayesian inference when only a limited number of noisy log-likelihood evaluations can be obtained. This occurs for example when complex simulator-based statistical models are fitted to data, and synthetic likelihood (SL) method is used to form the noisy log-likelihood estimates using computationally costly …
Develops likelihood-based methods for trawl processes, improving forecasting accuracy.
problem Statistical modeling of trawl processes with heavy tails and long memory.
method Composite likelihood estimation as a stochastic optimization problem, using gradient descent methods.
result New gradient estimators with significantly reduced variance for trawl processes.
Temporal Point Processes (TPP) with partial likelihoods involving a latent structure often entail an intractable marginalization, thus making inference hard. We propose a novel approach to Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) involving approximate inference over the latent variables by minimizing a tight upper bound on …
Parametric statistical models that are implicitly defined in terms of a stochastic data generating process are used in a wide range of scientific disciplines because they enable accurate modeling. However, learning the parameters from observed data is generally very difficult because their likelihood function is typica…