Bayesian Inference
Scalable Bayesian Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models via Stochastic Variational Subspace Inference
Samplawski, Colin, Cobb, Adam D., Acharya, Manoj, Kaur, Ramneet, Jha, Susmit
Despite their widespread use, large language models (LLMs) are known to hallucinate incorrect information and be poorly calibrated. This makes the uncertainty quantification of these models of critical importance, especially in high-stakes domains, such as autonomy and healthcare. Prior work has made Bayesian deep learning-based approaches to this problem more tractable by performing inference over the low-rank adaptation (LoRA) parameters of a fine-tuned model. While effective, these approaches struggle to scale to larger LLMs due to requiring further additional parameters compared to LoRA. In this work we present $\textbf{Scala}$ble $\textbf{B}$ayesian $\textbf{L}$ow-Rank Adaptation via Stochastic Variational Subspace Inference (ScalaBL). We perform Bayesian inference in an $r$-dimensional subspace, for LoRA rank $r$. By repurposing the LoRA parameters as projection matrices, we are able to map samples from this subspace into the full weight space of the LLM. This allows us to learn all the parameters of our approach using stochastic variational inference. Despite the low dimensionality of our subspace, we are able to achieve competitive performance with state-of-the-art approaches while only requiring ${\sim}1000$ additional parameters. Furthermore, it allows us to scale up to the largest Bayesian LLM to date, with four times as a many base parameters as prior work.
Towards Probabilistic Question Answering Over Tabular Data
Shen, Chen, Rahman, Sajjadur, Hruschka, Estevam
Current approaches for question answering (QA) over tabular data, such as NL2SQL systems, perform well for factual questions where answers are directly retrieved from tables. However, they fall short on probabilistic questions requiring reasoning under uncertainty. In this paper, we introduce a new benchmark LUCARIO and a framework for probabilistic QA over large tabular data. Our method induces Bayesian Networks from tables, translates natural language queries into probabilistic queries, and uses large language models (LLMs) to generate final answers. Empirical results demonstrate significant improvements over baselines, highlighting the benefits of hybrid symbolic-neural reasoning.
POLAR: A Pessimistic Model-based Policy Learning Algorithm for Dynamic Treatment Regimes
Zhang, Ruijia, Qi, Zhengling, Wu, Yue, Zhang, Xiangyu, Xu, Yanxun
Dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs) provide a principled framework for optimizing sequential decision-making in domains where decisions must adapt over time in response to individual trajectories, such as healthcare, education, and digital interventions. However, existing statistical methods often rely on strong positivity assumptions and lack robustness under partial data coverage, while offline reinforcement learning approaches typically focus on average training performance, lack statistical guarantees, and require solving complex optimization problems. To address these challenges, we propose POLAR, a novel pessimistic model-based policy learning algorithm for offline DTR optimization. POLAR estimates the transition dynamics from offline data and quantifies uncertainty for each history-action pair. A pessimistic penalty is then incorporated into the reward function to discourage actions with high uncertainty. Unlike many existing methods that focus on average training performance, POLAR directly targets the suboptimality of the final learned policy and offers theoretical guarantees, without relying on computationally intensive minimax or constrained optimization procedures. To the best of our knowledge, POLAR is the 1 first model-based DTR method to provide both statistical and computational guarantees, including finite-sample bounds on policy suboptimality. Empirical results on both synthetic data and the MIMIC-III dataset demonstrate that POLAR outperforms state-of-the-art methods and yields near-optimal, history-aware treatment strategies.
Scalable Machine Learning Algorithms using Path Signatures
The interface between stochastic analysis and machine learning is a rapidly evolving field, with path signatures - iterated integrals that provide faithful, hierarchical representations of paths - offering a principled and universal feature map for sequential and structured data. Rooted in rough path theory, path signatures are invariant to reparameterization and well-suited for modelling evolving dynamics, long-range dependencies, and irregular sampling - common challenges in real-world time series and graph data. This thesis investigates how to harness the expressive power of path signatures within scalable machine learning pipelines. It introduces a suite of models that combine theoretical robustness with computational efficiency, bridging rough path theory with probabilistic modelling, deep learning, and kernel methods. Key contributions include: Gaussian processes with signature kernel-based covariance functions for uncertainty-aware time series modelling; the Seq2Tens framework, which employs low-rank tensor structure in the weight space for scalable deep modelling of long-range dependencies; and graph-based models where expected signatures over graphs induce hypo-elliptic diffusion processes, offering expressive yet tractable alternatives to standard graph neural networks. Further developments include Random Fourier Signature Features, a scalable kernel approximation with theoretical guarantees, and Recurrent Sparse Spectrum Signature Gaussian Processes, which combine Gaussian processes, signature kernels, and random features with a principled forgetting mechanism for multi-horizon time series forecasting with adaptive context length. We hope this thesis serves as both a methodological toolkit and a conceptual bridge, and provides a useful reference for the current state of the art in scalable, signature-based learning for sequential and structured data.
In-Context Occam's Razor: How Transformers Prefer Simpler Hypotheses on the Fly
Deora, Puneesh, Vasudeva, Bhavya, Behnia, Tina, Thrampoulidis, Christos
In-context learning (ICL) enables transformers to adapt to new tasks through contextual examples without parameter updates. While existing research has typically studied ICL in fixed-complexity environments, practical language models encounter tasks spanning diverse complexity levels. This paper investigates how transformers navigate hierarchical task structures where higher-complexity categories can perfectly represent any pattern generated by simpler ones. We design well-controlled testbeds based on Markov chains and linear regression that reveal transformers not only identify the appropriate complexity level for each task but also accurately infer the corresponding parameters--even when the in-context examples are compatible with multiple complexity hypotheses. Notably, when presented with data generated by simpler processes, transformers consistently favor the least complex sufficient explanation. We theoretically explain this behavior through a Bayesian framework, demonstrating that transformers effectively implement an in-context Bayesian Occam's razor by balancing model fit against complexity penalties. We further ablate on the roles of model size, training mixture distribution, inference context length, and architecture. Finally, we validate this Occam's razor-like inductive bias on a pretrained GPT-4 model with Boolean-function tasks as case study, suggesting it may be inherent to transformers trained on diverse task distributions.
Posterior Contraction for Sparse Neural Networks in Besov Spaces with Intrinsic Dimensionality
Lee, Kyeongwon, Lin, Lizhen, Park, Jaewoo, Jeong, Seonghyun
This work establishes that sparse Bayesian neural networks achieve optimal posterior contraction rates over anisotropic Besov spaces and their hierarchical compositions. These structures reflect the intrinsic dimensionality of the underlying function, thereby mitigating the curse of dimensionality. Our analysis shows that Bayesian neural networks equipped with either sparse or continuous shrinkage priors attain the optimal rates which are dependent on the intrinsic dimension of the true structures. Moreover, we show that these priors enable rate adaptation, allowing the posterior to contract at the optimal rate even when the smoothness level of the true function is unknown. The proposed framework accommodates a broad class of functions, including additive and multiplicative Besov functions as special cases. These results advance the theoretical foundations of Bayesian neural networks and provide rigorous justification for their practical effectiveness in high-dimensional, structured estimation problems.
Riemannian generative decoder
Bjerregaard, Andreas, Hauberg, Sรธren, Krogh, Anders
Riemannian representation learning typically relies on approximating densities on chosen manifolds. This involves optimizing difficult objectives, potentially harming models. To completely circumvent this issue, we introduce the Riemannian generative decoder which finds manifold-valued maximum likelihood latents with a Riemannian optimizer while training a decoder network. By discarding the encoder, we vastly simplify the manifold constraint compared to current approaches which often only handle few specific manifolds. We validate our approach on three case studies -- a synthetic branching diffusion process, human migrations inferred from mitochondrial DNA, and cells undergoing a cell division cycle -- each showing that learned representations respect the prescribed geometry and capture intrinsic non-Euclidean structure. Our method requires only a decoder, is compatible with existing architectures, and yields interpretable latent spaces aligned with data geometry.
Low-Cost Infrastructure-Free 3D Relative Localization with Sub-Meter Accuracy in Near Field
Gao, Qiangsheng, Cheng, Ka Ho, Qiu, Li, Gong, Zijun
--Relative localization in the near-field scenario is critically important for unmanned vehicle (UxV) applications. Although related works addressing 2D relative localization problem have been widely studied for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), the problem in 3D scenarios for unmanned aerial vehicles (UA Vs) involves more uncertainties and remains to be investigated. Inspired by the phenomenon that animals can achieve swarm behaviors solely based on individual perception of relative information, this study proposes an infrastructure-free 3D relative localization framework that relies exclusively on onboard ultra-wideband (UWB) sensors. Leveraging 2D relative positioning research, we conducted feasibility analysis, system modeling, simulations, performance evaluation, and field tests using UWB sensors. The key contributions of this work include: derivation of the Cram er-Rao lower bound (CRLB) and geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) for near-field scenarios; development of two localization algorithms - one based on Euclidean distance matrix (EDM) and another employing maximum likelihood estimation (MLE); comprehensive performance comparison and computational complexity analysis against state-of-the-art methods; simulation studies and field experiments; a novel sensor deployment strategy inspired by animal behavior, enabling single-sensor implementation within the proposed framework for UxV applications. The theoretical, simulation, and experimental results demonstrate strong generalizability to other 3D near-field localization tasks, with significant potential for a cost-effective cross-platform UxV collaborative system. I. INTRODUCTION Precise localization is essential in diverse domains, including multi-agent robotic systems, the Internet of Things, intelligent vehicular networks, and logistics [1]-[3].
Bayesian Evolutionary Swarm Architecture: A Formal Epistemic System Grounded in Truth-Based Competition
We introduce a mathematically rigorous framework for an artificial intelligence system composed of probabilistic agents evolving through structured competition and belief revision. The architecture, grounded in Bayesian inference, measure theory, and population dynamics, defines agent fitness as a function of alignment with a fixed external oracle representing ground truth. Agents compete in a discrete-time environment, adjusting posterior beliefs through observed outcomes, with higher-rated agents reproducing and lower-rated agents undergoing extinction. Ratings are updated via pairwise truth-aligned utility comparisons, and belief updates preserve measurable consistency and stochastic convergence. We introduce hash-based cryptographic identity commitments to ensure traceability, alongside causal inference operators using do-calculus. Formal theorems on convergence, robustness, and evolutionary stability are provided. The system establishes truth as an evolutionary attractor, demonstrating that verifiable knowledge arises from adversarial epistemic pressure within a computable, self-regulating swarm.
The Within-Orbit Adaptive Leapfrog No-U-Turn Sampler
Bou-Rabee, Nawaf, Carpenter, Bob, Kleppe, Tore Selland, Liu, Sifan
Locally adapting parameters within Markov chain Monte Carlo methods while preserving reversibility is notoriously difficult. The success of the No-U-Turn Sampler (NUTS) largely stems from its clever local adaptation of the integration time in Hamiltonian Monte Carlo via a geometric U-turn condition. However, posterior distributions frequently exhibit multi-scale geometries with extreme variations in scale, making it necessary to also adapt the leapfrog integrator's step size locally and dynamically. Despite its practical importance, this problem has remained largely open since the introduction of NUTS by Hoffman and Gelman (2014). To address this issue, we introduce the Within-orbit Adaptive Leapfrog No-U-Turn Sampler (WALNUTS), a generalization of NUTS that adapts the leapfrog step size at fixed intervals of simulated time as the orbit evolves. At each interval, the algorithm selects the largest step size from a dyadic schedule that keeps the energy error below a user-specified threshold. Like NUTS, WALNUTS employs biased progressive state selection to favor states with positions that are further from the initial point along the orbit. Empirical evaluations on multiscale target distributions, including Neal's funnel and the Stock-Watson stochastic volatility time-series model, demonstrate that WALNUTS achieves substantial improvements in sampling efficiency and robustness compared to standard NUTS.