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Poster
A Probabilistic Framework for Deep Learning
Ankit Patel · Tan Nguyen · Richard Baraniuk

Wed Dec 07 09:00 AM -- 12:30 PM (PST) @ Area 5+6+7+8 #57 #None
in Wednesday Posters »

We develop a probabilistic framework for deep learning based on the Deep Rendering Mixture Model (DRMM), a new generative probabilistic model that explicitly capture variations in data due to latent task nuisance variables. We demonstrate that max-sum inference in the DRMM yields an algorithm that exactly reproduces the operations in deep convolutional neural networks (DCNs), providing a first principles derivation. Our framework provides new insights into the successes and shortcomings of DCNs as well as a principled route to their improvement. DRMM training via the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is a powerful alternative to DCN back-propagation, and initial training results are promising. Classification based on the DRMM and other variants outperforms DCNs in supervised digit classification, training 2-3x faster while achieving similar accuracy. Moreover, the DRMM is applicable to semi-supervised and unsupervised learning tasks, achieving results that are state-of-the-art in several categories on the MNIST benchmark and comparable to state of the art on the CIFAR10 benchmark.

Keywords: Deep Learning or Neural Networks · Clustering · Learning Theory · (Application) Object and Pattern Recognition · Large Scale Learning and Big Data · Graphical Models

Author Information

Ankit Patel (Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University)
Tan Nguyen (Rice University)

I am currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, working with Dr. Stanley J. Osher. I have obtained my Ph.D. in Machine Learning from Rice University, where I was advised by Dr. Richard G. Baraniuk. My research is focused on the intersection of Deep Learning, Probabilistic Modeling, Optimization, and ODEs/PDEs. I gave an invited talk in the Deep Learning Theory Workshop at NeurIPS 2018 and organized the 1st Workshop on Integration of Deep Neural Models and Differential Equations at ICLR 2020. I also had two awesome long internships with Amazon AI and NVIDIA Research, during which he worked with Dr. Anima Anandkumar. I am the recipient of the prestigious Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship (CIFellows) from the Computing Research Association (CRA), the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and the IGERT Neuroengineering Traineeship. I received his MSEE and BSEE from Rice in May 2018 and May 2014, respectively.

Richard Baraniuk (Rice University)

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