Recent studies suggest that deep learning models' inductive bias towards favoring

Recent studies suggest that deep learning models' inductive bias towards favoring simpler features may be an origin of shortcut learning. Yet, there has been limited focus on understanding the complexities of the myriad features that models learn. In this work, we introduce a new metric for quantifying feature complexity, based on V-information and capturing whether a feature requires complex computational transformations to be extracted. Using this V-information metric, we analyze the complexities of 10,000 features--represented as directions in the penultimate layer--that were extracted from a standard ImageNet-trained vision model. Our study addresses four key questions:First, we ask what features look like as a function of complexity, and find a spectrum of simple-to-complex features present within the model.

Recent studies suggest that deep learning models' inductive bias towards favoring

Recent studies suggest that deep learning models' inductive bias towards favoring simpler features may be an origin of shortcut learning. Yet, there has been limited focus on understanding the complexities of the myriad features that models learn. In this work, we introduce a new metric for quantifying feature complexity, based on V-information and capturing whether a feature requires complex computational transformations to be extracted. Using this V-information metric, we analyze the complexities of 10,000 features--represented as directions in the penultimate layer--that were extracted from a standard ImageNet-trained vision model. Our study addresses four key questions:First, we ask what features look like as a function of complexity, and find a spectrum of simple-to-complex features present within the model.

Collective action in machine learning is the study of the control that a coordinated group can have over machine learning algorithms. While previous research has concentrated on assessing the impact of collectives against Bayes (sub-)optimal classifiers, this perspective is limited in that it does not account for the choice of learning algorithm. Since classifiers seldom behave like Bayes classifiers and are influenced by the choice of learning algorithms along with their inherent biases, in this work we initiate the study of how the choice of the learning algorithm plays a role in the success of a collective in practical settings. Specifically, we focus on distributionally robust optimization (DRO), popular for improving a worst group error, and on the ubiquitous stochastic gradient descent (SGD), due to its inductive bias for "simpler" functions. Our empirical results, supported by a theoretical foundation, show that the effective size and success of the collective are highly dependent on properties of the learning algorithm. This highlights the necessity of taking the learning algorithm into account when studying the impact of collective action in machine learning.

If your Uber driver takes a shortcut, you might get to your destination faster. But if a machine learning model takes a shortcut, it might fail in unexpected ways. In machine learning, a shortcut solution occurs when the model relies on a simple characteristic of a dataset to make a decision, rather than learning the true essence of the data, which can lead to inaccurate predictions. For example, a model might learn to identify images of cows by focusing on the green grass that appears in the photos, rather than the more complex shapes and patterns of the cows. A new study by researchers at MIT explores the problem of shortcuts in a popular machine-learning method and proposes a solution that can prevent shortcuts by forcing the model to use more data in its decision-making.

If your Uber driver takes a shortcut, you might get to your destination faster. But if a machine learning model takes a shortcut, it might fail in unexpected ways. In machine learning, a shortcut solution occurs when the model relies on a simple characteristic of a dataset to make a decision, rather than learning the true essence of the data, which can lead to inaccurate predictions. For example, a model might learn to identify images of cows by focusing on the green grass that appears in the photos, rather than the more complex shapes and patterns of the cows. A new study by researchers at MIT explores the problem of shortcuts in a popular machine-learning method and proposes a solution that can prevent shortcuts by forcing the model to use more data in its decision-making.