Context-Aware Inference via Performance Forecasting in Decentralized Learning Networks

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pfeffer, Joel, Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik, Gossart, Clément, Chevance, Mélanie, Millan, Diego Campo, Stecker, Florian, Longmore, Steven N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866918156318015488
author Pfeffer, Joel
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
Gossart, Clément
Chevance, Mélanie
Millan, Diego Campo
Stecker, Florian
Longmore, Steven N.
author_facet Pfeffer, Joel
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
Gossart, Clément
Chevance, Mélanie
Millan, Diego Campo
Stecker, Florian
Longmore, Steven N.
contents In decentralized learning networks, predictions from many participants are combined to generate a network inference. While many studies have demonstrated performance benefits of combining multiple model predictions, existing strategies using linear pooling methods (ranging from simple averaging to dynamic weight updates) face a key limitation. Dynamic prediction combinations that rely on historical performance to update weights are necessarily reactive. Due to the need to average over a reasonable number of epochs (with moving averages or exponential weighting), they tend to be slow to adjust to changing circumstances (phase or regime changes). In this work, we develop a model that uses machine learning to forecast the performance of predictions by models at each epoch in a time series. This enables `context-awareness' by assigning higher weight to models that are likely to be more accurate at a given time. We show that adding a performance forecasting worker in a decentralized learning network, following a design similar to the Allora network, can improve the accuracy of network inferences. Specifically, we find forecasting models that predict regret (performance relative to the network inference) or regret z-score (performance relative to other workers) show greater improvement than models predicting losses, which often do not outperform the naive network inference (historically weighted average of all inferences). Through a series of optimization tests, we show that the performance of the forecasting model can be sensitive to choices in the feature set and number of training epochs. These properties may depend on the exact problem and should be tailored to each domain. Although initially designed for a decentralized learning network, using performance forecasting for prediction combination may be useful in any situation where predictive rather than reactive model weighting is needed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_06444
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Context-Aware Inference via Performance Forecasting in Decentralized Learning Networks
Pfeffer, Joel
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
Gossart, Clément
Chevance, Mélanie
Millan, Diego Campo
Stecker, Florian
Longmore, Steven N.
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
In decentralized learning networks, predictions from many participants are combined to generate a network inference. While many studies have demonstrated performance benefits of combining multiple model predictions, existing strategies using linear pooling methods (ranging from simple averaging to dynamic weight updates) face a key limitation. Dynamic prediction combinations that rely on historical performance to update weights are necessarily reactive. Due to the need to average over a reasonable number of epochs (with moving averages or exponential weighting), they tend to be slow to adjust to changing circumstances (phase or regime changes). In this work, we develop a model that uses machine learning to forecast the performance of predictions by models at each epoch in a time series. This enables `context-awareness' by assigning higher weight to models that are likely to be more accurate at a given time. We show that adding a performance forecasting worker in a decentralized learning network, following a design similar to the Allora network, can improve the accuracy of network inferences. Specifically, we find forecasting models that predict regret (performance relative to the network inference) or regret z-score (performance relative to other workers) show greater improvement than models predicting losses, which often do not outperform the naive network inference (historically weighted average of all inferences). Through a series of optimization tests, we show that the performance of the forecasting model can be sensitive to choices in the feature set and number of training epochs. These properties may depend on the exact problem and should be tailored to each domain. Although initially designed for a decentralized learning network, using performance forecasting for prediction combination may be useful in any situation where predictive rather than reactive model weighting is needed.
title Context-Aware Inference via Performance Forecasting in Decentralized Learning Networks
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06444