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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

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.

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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