Online Calibrated and Conformal Prediction Improves Bayesian Optimization

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Deshpande, Shachi, Marx, Charles, Kuleshov, Volodymyr
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913404969549824
author Deshpande, Shachi
Marx, Charles
Kuleshov, Volodymyr
author_facet Deshpande, Shachi
Marx, Charles
Kuleshov, Volodymyr
contents Accurate uncertainty estimates are important in sequential model-based decision-making tasks such as Bayesian optimization. However, these estimates can be imperfect if the data violates assumptions made by the model (e.g., Gaussianity). This paper studies which uncertainties are needed in model-based decision-making and in Bayesian optimization, and argues that uncertainties can benefit from calibration -- i.e., an 80% predictive interval should contain the true outcome 80% of the time. Maintaining calibration, however, can be challenging when the data is non-stationary and depends on our actions. We propose using simple algorithms based on online learning to provably maintain calibration on non-i.i.d. data, and we show how to integrate these algorithms in Bayesian optimization with minimal overhead. Empirically, we find that calibrated Bayesian optimization converges to better optima in fewer steps, and we demonstrate improved performance on standard benchmark functions and hyperparameter optimization tasks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2112_04620
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Online Calibrated and Conformal Prediction Improves Bayesian Optimization
Deshpande, Shachi
Marx, Charles
Kuleshov, Volodymyr
Machine Learning
I.2; I.5
Accurate uncertainty estimates are important in sequential model-based decision-making tasks such as Bayesian optimization. However, these estimates can be imperfect if the data violates assumptions made by the model (e.g., Gaussianity). This paper studies which uncertainties are needed in model-based decision-making and in Bayesian optimization, and argues that uncertainties can benefit from calibration -- i.e., an 80% predictive interval should contain the true outcome 80% of the time. Maintaining calibration, however, can be challenging when the data is non-stationary and depends on our actions. We propose using simple algorithms based on online learning to provably maintain calibration on non-i.i.d. data, and we show how to integrate these algorithms in Bayesian optimization with minimal overhead. Empirically, we find that calibrated Bayesian optimization converges to better optima in fewer steps, and we demonstrate improved performance on standard benchmark functions and hyperparameter optimization tasks.
title Online Calibrated and Conformal Prediction Improves Bayesian Optimization
topic Machine Learning
I.2; I.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.04620