Power Analysis for Prediction-Powered Inference

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chen, Yiqun T., Guo, Moran, Li, Shengy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Chen, Yiqun T.
Guo, Moran
Li, Shengy
author_facet Chen, Yiqun T.
Guo, Moran
Li, Shengy
contents Modern studies increasingly leverage outcomes predicted by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI/ML) models, and recent work, such as prediction-powered inference (PPI), has developed valid downstream statistical inference procedures. However, classical power and sample size formulas do not readily account for these predictions. In this work, we tackle a simple yet practical question: given a new AI/ML model with high predictive power, how many labeled samples are needed to achieve a desired level of statistical power? We derive closed-form power formulas by characterizing the asymptotic variance of the PPI estimator and applying Wald test inversion to obtain the required labeled sample size. Our results cover widely used settings including two-sample comparisons and risk measures in 2x2 tables. We find that a useful rule of thumb is that the reduction in required labeled samples relative to classical designs scales roughly with the R2 between the predictions and the ground truth. Our analytical formulas are validated using Monte Carlo simulations, and we illustrate the framework in three contemporary biomedical applications spanning single-cell transcriptomics, clinical blood pressure measurement, and dermoscopy imaging. We provide our software as an R package and online calculators at https://github.com/yiqunchen/pppower.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_16041
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Power Analysis for Prediction-Powered Inference
Chen, Yiqun T.
Guo, Moran
Li, Shengy
Methodology
Machine Learning
Modern studies increasingly leverage outcomes predicted by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI/ML) models, and recent work, such as prediction-powered inference (PPI), has developed valid downstream statistical inference procedures. However, classical power and sample size formulas do not readily account for these predictions. In this work, we tackle a simple yet practical question: given a new AI/ML model with high predictive power, how many labeled samples are needed to achieve a desired level of statistical power? We derive closed-form power formulas by characterizing the asymptotic variance of the PPI estimator and applying Wald test inversion to obtain the required labeled sample size. Our results cover widely used settings including two-sample comparisons and risk measures in 2x2 tables. We find that a useful rule of thumb is that the reduction in required labeled samples relative to classical designs scales roughly with the R2 between the predictions and the ground truth. Our analytical formulas are validated using Monte Carlo simulations, and we illustrate the framework in three contemporary biomedical applications spanning single-cell transcriptomics, clinical blood pressure measurement, and dermoscopy imaging. We provide our software as an R package and online calculators at https://github.com/yiqunchen/pppower.
title Power Analysis for Prediction-Powered Inference
topic Methodology
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16041