OL4TeX: Adaptive Online Learning for Text Classification under Distribution Shifts

Min-Seon Kim, Ling Liu, Hyuk-Yoon Kwon

Abstract: This study presents an adaptive online learning method for text classification under distribution shifts. We formulate a typical neural network-based text classification model as multiple logical modules. By leveraging the characteristics of the modules, we introduce three novel indicators to effectively measure the degree of dynamic distribution shifts without evaluating the model. To enhance online learning, we tactically trade off between learning efficiency and accuracy based on distribution shifts measured in real time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort to adapt the model to the preference of learning efficiency or accuracy for online text classification. Extensive experiments on real-world streaming text datasets show that our method outperforms the best static update strategy and state-of-the-art online text classification models. Our code and data are available at https://github.com/bigbases/online-learning-text.