Expert Commentary: Generalization Errors and Out-of-Distribution Data
This article addresses an important challenge in machine learning which is the generalization of models to unseen or out-of-distribution (OOD) data. Traditionally, OOD data has been treated as a single category, but this study recognizes that not all OOD data is the same. By considering the source domains of the training data and the distribution drifts in the test data, the authors investigate how generalization errors change with the increasing size of training data.
The prevailing notion is that increasing the size of training data monotonically decreases generalization errors. However, the authors challenge this idea by demonstrating that in scenarios with multiple source domains and distribution drifts in test data, the generalization errors may not decrease monotonically. This non-decreasing phenomenon has implications for real-world applications where the training and test data come from different sources or exhibit distribution shifts due to various factors.
In order to formally investigate this behavior, the authors focus on a linear setting and conduct empirical verification using various visual benchmarks. Their results confirm that the non-decreasing trend holds true in these scenarios, reinforcing the need to re-evaluate how OOD data is defined and generalize models effectively.
The authors propose a new definition for OOD data, considering it as data outside the convex hull of the training domains. This refined definition allows for a new generalization bound that guarantees the effectiveness of a well-trained model for unseen data within the convex hull. However, for data beyond the convex hull, a non-decreasing error trend can occur, challenging the model’s performance. This insight opens up avenues for further research to overcome this issue.
To tackle this challenge, popular strategies such as data augmentation and pre-training are investigated. Data augmentation involves generating synthetic examples by applying transformations to existing data, while pre-training refers to training a model on a large dataset before fine-tuning it on the target task. The authors explore the effectiveness of these strategies in mitigating the non-decreasing error trend for OOD data beyond the convex hull.
Furthermore, the authors propose a novel reinforcement learning selection algorithm that focuses only on the source domains. By leveraging reinforcement learning techniques, this algorithm aims to improve the performance of models compared to baseline methods. This approach may provide valuable insights into effectively selecting and utilizing relevant source domains for training, enhancing model generalization and addressing the challenges posed by OOD data beyond the convex hull.
In conclusion, this research highlights the complexities of generalization errors when faced with OOD data, especially in scenarios with multiple source domains and distribution drifts. By redefining OOD data and establishing a new generalization bound, the authors offer a fresh perspective on addressing this challenge. The exploration of data augmentation, pre-training, and the proposed reinforcement learning selection algorithm open up new avenues for advancements in effectively handling OOD data and improving model performance in real-world applications.