## On the Power of Differentiable Learning versus PAC and SQ Learning

21 May 2021, 20:48 (edited 21 Jan 2022)NeurIPS 2021 SpotlightReaders: Everyone
• Keywords: Differentiable Learning, PAC Learning, Statistical Query Learning, mini-batch SGD
• TL;DR: Identifies regimes of mini-batch size and gradient precision in gradient-based learning on differentiable models under which it becomes as powerful as sample based learning, or collapses to learning in the statistical query model.
• Abstract: We study the power of learning via mini-batch stochastic gradient descent (SGD) on the loss of a differentiable model or neural network, and ask what learning problems can be learnt using this paradigm. We show that SGD can always simulate learning with statistical queries (SQ), but its ability to go beyond that depends on the precision $\rho$ of the gradients and the minibatch size $b$. With fine enough precision relative to minibatch size, namely when $b \rho$ is small enough, SGD can go beyond SQ learning and simulate any sample-based learning algorithm and thus its learning power is equivalent to that of PAC learning; this extends prior work that achieved this result for $b=1$. Moreover, with polynomially many bits of precision (i.e. when $\rho$ is exponentially small), SGD can simulate PAC learning regardless of the batch size. On the other hand, when $b \rho^2$ is large enough, the power of SGD is equivalent to that of SQ learning.
• Supplementary Material: pdf
• Code Of Conduct: I certify that all co-authors of this work have read and commit to adhering to the NeurIPS Statement on Ethics, Fairness, Inclusivity, and Code of Conduct.
5 Replies