Class conditional conformal prediction for multiple inputs by p-value aggregation

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Fermanian, Jean-Baptiste, Hebiri, Mohamed, Salmon, Joseph
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Fermanian, Jean-Baptiste
Hebiri, Mohamed
Salmon, Joseph
author_facet Fermanian, Jean-Baptiste
Hebiri, Mohamed
Salmon, Joseph
contents Conformal prediction methods are statistical tools designed to quantify uncertainty and generate predictive sets with guaranteed coverage probabilities. This work introduces an innovative refinement to these methods for classification tasks, specifically tailored for scenarios where multiple observations (multi-inputs) of a single instance are available at prediction time. Our approach is particularly motivated by applications in citizen science, where multiple images of the same plant or animal are captured by individuals. Our method integrates the information from each observation into conformal prediction, enabling a reduction in the size of the predicted label set while preserving the required class-conditional coverage guarantee. The approach is based on the aggregation of conformal p-values computed from each observation of a multi-input. By exploiting the exact distribution of these p-values, we propose a general aggregation framework using an abstract scoring function, encompassing many classical statistical tools. Knowledge of this distribution also enables refined versions of standard strategies, such as majority voting. We evaluate our method on simulated and real data, with a particular focus on Pl@ntNet, a prominent citizen science platform that facilitates the collection and identification of plant species through user-submitted images.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_07150
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Class conditional conformal prediction for multiple inputs by p-value aggregation
Fermanian, Jean-Baptiste
Hebiri, Mohamed
Salmon, Joseph
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Statistics Theory
Methodology
Conformal prediction methods are statistical tools designed to quantify uncertainty and generate predictive sets with guaranteed coverage probabilities. This work introduces an innovative refinement to these methods for classification tasks, specifically tailored for scenarios where multiple observations (multi-inputs) of a single instance are available at prediction time. Our approach is particularly motivated by applications in citizen science, where multiple images of the same plant or animal are captured by individuals. Our method integrates the information from each observation into conformal prediction, enabling a reduction in the size of the predicted label set while preserving the required class-conditional coverage guarantee. The approach is based on the aggregation of conformal p-values computed from each observation of a multi-input. By exploiting the exact distribution of these p-values, we propose a general aggregation framework using an abstract scoring function, encompassing many classical statistical tools. Knowledge of this distribution also enables refined versions of standard strategies, such as majority voting. We evaluate our method on simulated and real data, with a particular focus on Pl@ntNet, a prominent citizen science platform that facilitates the collection and identification of plant species through user-submitted images.
title Class conditional conformal prediction for multiple inputs by p-value aggregation
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Statistics Theory
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07150