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Instability in deep learning - when algorithms cannot compute uncertainty quantifications for neural networks

delete2025-11-01
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PRE
AI
L
Luca Eva Gazdag
V
Vegard Antun
A
Anders C. Hansen *
DOI:10.1017/S095679252510017Xdelete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
In deep learning, interval neural networks are used to quantify the uncertainty of a pre-trained neural network. Suppose we are given a computational problem $P$ and a pre-trained neural network $\Phi _P$ that aims to solve $P$ . An interval neural network is then a pair of neural networks $(\underline {\phi }, \overline {\phi })$ , with the property that $\underline {\phi }(y) \leq \Phi _P(y) \leq \overline {\phi }(y)$ for all inputs $y$ , where the inequalities are meant componentwise. $(\underline {\phi }, \overline {\phi })$ are specifically trained to quantify the uncertainty of $\Phi _P$ , in the sense that the size of the interval $[\underline {\phi }(y),\overline {\phi }(y)]$ quantifies the uncertainty of the prediction $\Phi _P(y)$ . In this paper, we investigate the phenomenon when algorithms cannot compute interval neural networks in the setting of inverse problems. We show that in the typical setting of a linear inverse problem, the problem of constructing an optimal pair of interval neural networks is non-computable, even with the assumption that the pre-trained neural network $\Phi _P$ is an optimal solution. In other words, there exist classes of training sets $\Omega$ , such that there is no algorithm, even randomised (with probability $p \geq 1/2$ ), that computes an optimal pair of interval neural networks for each training set ${\mathcal{T}} \in \Omega$ . This phenomenon happens even when we are given a pre-trained neural network $\Phi _{{\mathcal{T}}}$ that is optimal for $\mathcal{T}$ . This phenomenon is intimately linked to instability in deep learning.
Keywords:
Uncertainty quantification
non-computability
neural networks
Instability
deep learning

Journal

E
European Journal of Applied Mathematics
IF:
1.1
Papers:
35
Citations:
1.3K

Organization

U
university of oslo
Scholars:
4.2W
Papers: 3.5W
Citations: 53
U
University of Cambridge
Scholars:
7.7W
Papers: 7.1W
Citations: 13.7W