The Generative Leap: Sharp Sample Complexity for Efficiently Learning Gaussian Multi-Index Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Damian, Alex, Lee, Jason D., Bruna, Joan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Damian, Alex
Lee, Jason D.
Bruna, Joan
author_facet Damian, Alex
Lee, Jason D.
Bruna, Joan
contents In this work we consider generic Gaussian Multi-index models, in which the labels only depend on the (Gaussian) $d$-dimensional inputs through their projection onto a low-dimensional $r = O_d(1)$ subspace, and we study efficient agnostic estimation procedures for this hidden subspace. We introduce the \emph{generative leap} exponent $k^\star$, a natural extension of the generative exponent from [Damian et al.'24] to the multi-index setting. We first show that a sample complexity of $n=Θ(d^{1 \vee \k/2})$ is necessary in the class of algorithms captured by the Low-Degree-Polynomial framework. We then establish that this sample complexity is also sufficient, by giving an agnostic sequential estimation procedure (that is, requiring no prior knowledge of the multi-index model) based on a spectral U-statistic over appropriate Hermite tensors. We further compute the generative leap exponent for several examples including piecewise linear functions (deep ReLU networks with bias), and general deep neural networks (with $r$-dimensional first hidden layer).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_05500
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Generative Leap: Sharp Sample Complexity for Efficiently Learning Gaussian Multi-Index Models
Damian, Alex
Lee, Jason D.
Bruna, Joan
Machine Learning
In this work we consider generic Gaussian Multi-index models, in which the labels only depend on the (Gaussian) $d$-dimensional inputs through their projection onto a low-dimensional $r = O_d(1)$ subspace, and we study efficient agnostic estimation procedures for this hidden subspace. We introduce the \emph{generative leap} exponent $k^\star$, a natural extension of the generative exponent from [Damian et al.'24] to the multi-index setting. We first show that a sample complexity of $n=Θ(d^{1 \vee \k/2})$ is necessary in the class of algorithms captured by the Low-Degree-Polynomial framework. We then establish that this sample complexity is also sufficient, by giving an agnostic sequential estimation procedure (that is, requiring no prior knowledge of the multi-index model) based on a spectral U-statistic over appropriate Hermite tensors. We further compute the generative leap exponent for several examples including piecewise linear functions (deep ReLU networks with bias), and general deep neural networks (with $r$-dimensional first hidden layer).
title The Generative Leap: Sharp Sample Complexity for Efficiently Learning Gaussian Multi-Index Models
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05500