Distributionally Robust Optimization via Generative Ambiguity Modeling

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wen, Jiaqi, Yang, Jianyi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Wen, Jiaqi
Yang, Jianyi
author_facet Wen, Jiaqi
Yang, Jianyi
contents This paper studies Distributionally Robust Optimization (DRO), a fundamental framework for enhancing the robustness and generalization of statistical learning and optimization. An effective ambiguity set for DRO must involve distributions that remain consistent to the nominal distribution while being diverse enough to account for a variety of potential scenarios. Moreover, it should lead to tractable DRO solutions. To this end, we propose generative model-based ambiguity sets that capture various adversarial distributions beyond the nominal support space while maintaining consistency with the nominal distribution. Building on this generative ambiguity modeling, we propose DRO with Generative Ambiguity Set (GAS-DRO), a tractable DRO algorithm that solves the inner maximization over the parameterized generative model space. We formally establish the stationary convergence performance of GAS-DRO. We implement GAS-DRO with a diffusion model and empirically demonstrate its superior Out-of-Distribution (OOD) generalization performance in ML tasks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_08976
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Distributionally Robust Optimization via Generative Ambiguity Modeling
Wen, Jiaqi
Yang, Jianyi
Machine Learning
This paper studies Distributionally Robust Optimization (DRO), a fundamental framework for enhancing the robustness and generalization of statistical learning and optimization. An effective ambiguity set for DRO must involve distributions that remain consistent to the nominal distribution while being diverse enough to account for a variety of potential scenarios. Moreover, it should lead to tractable DRO solutions. To this end, we propose generative model-based ambiguity sets that capture various adversarial distributions beyond the nominal support space while maintaining consistency with the nominal distribution. Building on this generative ambiguity modeling, we propose DRO with Generative Ambiguity Set (GAS-DRO), a tractable DRO algorithm that solves the inner maximization over the parameterized generative model space. We formally establish the stationary convergence performance of GAS-DRO. We implement GAS-DRO with a diffusion model and empirically demonstrate its superior Out-of-Distribution (OOD) generalization performance in ML tasks.
title Distributionally Robust Optimization via Generative Ambiguity Modeling
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08976