Information Theoretic Lower Bounds for Information Theoretic Upper Bounds

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Abstract

We examine the relationship between the mutual information between the output model and the empirical sample and the generalization of the algorithm in the context of stochastic convex optimization. Despite increasing interest in information-theoretic generalization bounds, it is uncertain if these bounds can provide insight into the exceptional performance of various learning algorithms. Our study of stochastic convex optimization reveals that, for true risk minimization, dimension-dependent mutual information is necessary. This indicates that existing information-theoretic generalization bounds fall short in capturing the generalization capabilities of algorithms like SGD and regularized ERM, which have dimension-independent sample complexity.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Neural Information Processing Systems 36 - 37th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, NeurIPS 2023
EditorsA. Oh, T. Neumann, A. Globerson, K. Saenko, M. Hardt, S. Levine
ISBN (Electronic)9781713899921
StatePublished - 2023
Event37th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, NeurIPS 2023 - New Orleans, United States
Duration: 10 Dec 202316 Dec 2023

Publication series

NameAdvances in Neural Information Processing Systems
Volume36

Conference

Conference37th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, NeurIPS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew Orleans
Period10/12/2316/12/23

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Information Systems
  • Signal Processing

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