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Exploring Tradeoffs through Mode Connectivity for Multi-Task Learning

Neural Information Processing Systems

Nowadays deep models are required to be versatile due to the increasing realistic needs. Multi-task learning (MTL) offers an efficient way for this purpose to learn multiple tasks simultaneously with a single model. However, prior MTL solutions often focus on resolving conflicts and imbalances during optimization, which may not outperform simple linear scalarization strategies [Xin et al., 2022]. Instead of altering the optimization trajectory, this paper leverages mode connectivity to efficiently approach the Pareto front and identify the desired trade-off point. Unlike Pareto Front Learning (PFL), which aims to align with the entire Pareto front, we focus on effectively and efficiently exploring optimal trade-offs. However, three challenges persist: (1) the low-loss path can neither fully traverse trade-offs nor align with user preference due to its randomness, (2) commonly adopted Bรฉzier curves in mode connectivity are ill-suited to navigating the complex loss landscapes of deep models, and (3) poor scalability to large-scale task scenarios. To address these challenges, we adopt non-uniform rational B-Splines (NURBS) to model mode connectivity, allowing for more flexible and precise curve optimization. Additionally, we introduce an order-aware objective to explore task loss tradeoffs and employ a task grouping strategy to enhance scalability under massive task scenarios. Extensive experiments on key MTL datasets demonstrate that our proposed method, EXTRA(EXplore TRAde-offs), effectively identifies the desired point on the Pareto front and achieves state-of-the-art performance.


Quantization-Free Autoregressive Action Transformer

Neural Information Processing Systems

Current transformer-based imitation learning approaches introduce discrete action representations and train an autoregressive transformer decoder on the resulting latent code. However, the initial quantization breaks the continuous structure of the action space thereby limiting the capabilities of the generative model. We propose a quantization-free method instead that leverages Generative InfiniteVocabulary Transformers (GIVT) as a direct, continuous policy parametrization for autoregressive transformers.


Tracking and Understanding Object Transformations

Neural Information Processing Systems

Real-world objects frequently undergo state transformations. From an apple being cut into pieces to a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, tracking through these changes is important for understanding real-world objects and dynamics. However, existing methods often lose track of the target object after transformation, due to significant changes in object appearance. To address this limitation, we introduce the task of Track Any State: tracking objects through transformations while detecting and describing state changes, accompanied by a new benchmark dataset, VOST-TAS. To tackle this problem, we present TubeletGraph, a zero-shot system that recovers missing objects after transformation and maps out how object states are evolving over time. TubeletGraph first identifies potentially overlooked tracks, and determines whether they should be integrated based on semantic and proximity priors. Then, it reasons about the added tracks and generates a state graph describing each observed transformation. TubeletGraph achieves state-of-the-art tracking performance under transformations, while demonstrating deeper understanding of object transformations and promising capabilities in temporal grounding and semantic reasoning for complex object transformations. Code, additional results, and the benchmark dataset are available at https://tubelet-graph.github.io.



RvLLM: LLMRuntime Verification with Domain Knowledge

Neural Information Processing Systems

Large language models (LLMs) have emerged as a dominant AI paradigm due to their exceptional text understanding and generation capabilities. However, their tendency to generate inconsistent or erroneous outputs challenges their reliability, especially in high-stakes domains requiring accuracy and trustworthiness. Existing research primarily focuses on detecting and mitigating model misbehavior in general-purpose scenarios, often overlooking the potential of integrating domain-specific knowledge. In this work, we advance misbehavior detection by incorporating domain knowledge. The core idea is to design a general specification language that enables domain experts to customize domain-specific constraints in a lightweight and intuitive manner, supporting later runtime monitoring of LLM outputs.


Missing Data Imputation by Reducing Mutual Information with Rectified Flows

Neural Information Processing Systems

This paper introduces a novel iterative method for missing data imputation that sequentially reduces the mutual information between data and the corresponding missingness mask. Inspired by GAN-based approaches that train generators to decrease the predictability of missingness patterns, our method explicitly targets this reduction in mutual information.


ToF-IP: Time-of-Flight Enhanced Sparse Inertial Poser for Real-time Human Motion Capture

Neural Information Processing Systems

Sparse inertial measurement units (IMUs) provide a portable, low-cost solution for human motion tracking but struggle with error accumulation from drift and sensor noise when estimating joint position through time-based linear acceleration integration (i.e., indirect measurement). To address this, we propose ToF-IP, a novel 3D full-body pose estimation system that integrates Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors with sparse IMUs. The distinct advantage of our approach is that ToF sensors provide direct distance measurements, effectively mitigating error accumulation without relying on indirect time-based integration. From a hardware perspective, we maintain the portability of existing solutions by attaching ToF sensors to selected IMUs with a negligible volume increase of just 3%. On the software side, we introduce two novel techniques to enhance multi-sensor integration: (i) a NodeCentric Data Integration strategy that leverages a Transformer encoder to explicitly model both intra-node and inter-node data integration by treating each sensing node as a token; and (ii) a Dynamic Spatial Positional Encoding scheme that encodes the continuously changing spatial positions of wearable nodes as motion-conditioned functions, enabling the model to better capture human body dynamics in the embedding space. Additionally, we contribute a 208-minute human motion dataset from 10 participants, including synchronized IMU-ToF measurements and groundtruth from optical tracking. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches such as PNP, achieving superior accuracy in tracking complex and slow motions like Tai Chi, which remains challenging for inertial-only methods.


Evaluating_ADA_attacks__Emma_-13

Neural Information Processing Systems

Most work on adaptive data analysis assumes that samples in the dataset are independent. When correlations are allowed, even the non-adaptive setting can become intractable, unless some structural constraints are imposed. To address this, Bassily and Freund [2016] introduced the elegant framework of concentrated queries, which requires the analyst to restrict itself to queries that are concentrated around their expected value. While this assumption makes the problem trivial in the non-adaptive setting, in the adaptive setting it remains quite challenging. In fact, all known algorithms in this framework support significantly fewer queries than in the independent case: At most O(n) queries for a sample of size n, compared to O(n2) in the independent setting. In this work, we prove that this utility gap is inherent under the current formulation of the concentrated queries framework, assuming some natural conditions on the algorithm. Additionally, we present a simplified version of the best-known algorithms that match our impossibility result.


Heterogeneous Adversarial Play in Interactive Environments

Neural Information Processing Systems

Self-play constitutes a fundamental paradigm for autonomous skill acquisition, whereby agents iteratively enhance their capabilities through self-directed environmental exploration (Silver et al., 2018). Conventional self-play frameworks exploit agent symmetry within zero-sum competitive settings (Balduzzi et al., 2019), yet this approach proves inadequate for open-ended learning scenarios characterized by inherent asymmetry. Human pedagogical systems exemplify asymmetric instructional frameworks wherein educators systematically construct challenges calibrated to individual learners' developmental trajectories (Bobbitt, 1918; Bengio et al., 2009). The principal challenge resides in operationalizing these asymmetric, adaptive pedagogical mechanisms within artificial systems capable of autonomously synthesizing appropriate curricula without predetermined task hierarchies. Here we present Heterogeneous Adversarial Play (HAP), an adversarial Automatic Curriculum Learning (ACL) framework that formalizes teacher-student interactions as a minimax optimization wherein task-generating instructor and problem-solving learner co-evolve through adversarial dynamics. In contrast to prevailing ACL methodologies that employ static curricula or unidirectional task selection mechanisms, HAP establishes a bidirectional feedback system wherein instructors continuously recalibrate task complexity in response to real-time learner performance metrics. Experimental validation across multi-task learning domains demonstrates that our framework achieves performance parity with state-of-the-art (SOTA) baselines while generating curricula that enhance learning efficacy in both artificial agents and human subjects.


Value-Guided KVCompression for LLMs via Approximated CURDecomposition

Neural Information Processing Systems

Key-value (KV) cache compression has emerged as a critical technique for reducing the memory and latency overhead of autoregressive language models during inference. Prior approaches predominantly rely on query-key attention scores to rank and evict cached tokens, assuming that attention intensity correlates with semantic importance. However, this heuristic overlooks the contribution of value vectors, which directly influence the attention output. In this paper, we propose CurDKV, a novel, value-centric KV compression method that selects keys and values based on leverage scores computed from CUR matrix decomposition. Our approach approximates the dominant subspace of the attention output softmax(QK)V, ensuring that the retained tokens best preserve the model's predictive behavior. Theoretically, we show that attention score approximation does not guarantee output preservation, and demonstrate that CUR-based selection minimizes end-to-end attention reconstruction loss.