Exploring Open-world Continual Learning with Knowns-Unknowns Knowledge Transfer

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Li, Yujie, Lai, Guannan, Yang, Xin, Li, Yonghao, Bonsangue, Marcello, Li, Tianrui
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Li, Yujie
Lai, Guannan
Yang, Xin
Li, Yonghao
Bonsangue, Marcello
Li, Tianrui
author_facet Li, Yujie
Lai, Guannan
Yang, Xin
Li, Yonghao
Bonsangue, Marcello
Li, Tianrui
contents Open-World Continual Learning (OWCL) is a challenging paradigm where models must incrementally learn new knowledge without forgetting while operating under an open-world assumption. This requires handling incomplete training data and recognizing unknown samples during inference. However, existing OWCL methods often treat open detection and continual learning as separate tasks, limiting their ability to integrate open-set detection and incremental classification in OWCL. Moreover, current approaches primarily focus on transferring knowledge from known samples, neglecting the insights derived from unknown/open samples. To address these limitations, we formalize four distinct OWCL scenarios and conduct comprehensive empirical experiments to explore potential challenges in OWCL. Our findings reveal a significant interplay between the open detection of unknowns and incremental classification of knowns, challenging a widely held assumption that unknown detection and known classification are orthogonal processes. Building on our insights, we propose \textbf{HoliTrans} (Holistic Knowns-Unknowns Knowledge Transfer), a novel OWCL framework that integrates nonlinear random projection (NRP) to create a more linearly separable embedding space and distribution-aware prototypes (DAPs) to construct an adaptive knowledge space. Particularly, our HoliTrans effectively supports knowledge transfer for both known and unknown samples while dynamically updating representations of open samples during OWCL. Extensive experiments across various OWCL scenarios demonstrate that HoliTrans outperforms 22 competitive baselines, bridging the gap between OWCL theory and practice and providing a robust, scalable framework for advancing open-world learning paradigms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_20124
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exploring Open-world Continual Learning with Knowns-Unknowns Knowledge Transfer
Li, Yujie
Lai, Guannan
Yang, Xin
Li, Yonghao
Bonsangue, Marcello
Li, Tianrui
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Open-World Continual Learning (OWCL) is a challenging paradigm where models must incrementally learn new knowledge without forgetting while operating under an open-world assumption. This requires handling incomplete training data and recognizing unknown samples during inference. However, existing OWCL methods often treat open detection and continual learning as separate tasks, limiting their ability to integrate open-set detection and incremental classification in OWCL. Moreover, current approaches primarily focus on transferring knowledge from known samples, neglecting the insights derived from unknown/open samples. To address these limitations, we formalize four distinct OWCL scenarios and conduct comprehensive empirical experiments to explore potential challenges in OWCL. Our findings reveal a significant interplay between the open detection of unknowns and incremental classification of knowns, challenging a widely held assumption that unknown detection and known classification are orthogonal processes. Building on our insights, we propose \textbf{HoliTrans} (Holistic Knowns-Unknowns Knowledge Transfer), a novel OWCL framework that integrates nonlinear random projection (NRP) to create a more linearly separable embedding space and distribution-aware prototypes (DAPs) to construct an adaptive knowledge space. Particularly, our HoliTrans effectively supports knowledge transfer for both known and unknown samples while dynamically updating representations of open samples during OWCL. Extensive experiments across various OWCL scenarios demonstrate that HoliTrans outperforms 22 competitive baselines, bridging the gap between OWCL theory and practice and providing a robust, scalable framework for advancing open-world learning paradigms.
title Exploring Open-world Continual Learning with Knowns-Unknowns Knowledge Transfer
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20124