arXiv:2412.07971cs.LGcs.DC2024-12

Local-GD训练出的模型方向与集中式训练完全一致,解释了为何通信少仍有效。

Effectiveness of Distributed Gradient Descent with Local Steps for Overparameterized Models

  • 通过分析局部梯度下降的隐式偏差,揭示其收敛方向与集中式训练相同。
  • 无论本地迭代次数多少,最终模型方向均趋近于集中式模型,收敛速率可精确计算。
  • 适用于理解联邦学习中大量本地更新为何仍能保持性能,尤其对异构数据有启示。

在分布式机器学习训练中,带有本地迭代步骤的梯度下降(如Local-(S)GD或FedAvg)被广泛用于降低通信开销。该方法在各计算节点上独立执行基于本地数据的梯度步,定期聚合全局模型。在插值条件下,Local-GD可收敛至零训练损失。然而,存在多个零损失解时,其具体收敛到哪一个尚不清楚。本文针对线性可分数据的分类任务,分析了Local-GD的隐式偏差。结果表明,在插值情形下,无论本地步数多少,其聚合得到的全局模型方向将精确收敛至所有数据集中处理所获得的中心化模型方向。我们还给出了该收敛速率关于本地步数的精确表达式,并提出一种学习率不依赖本地步数的改进算法,同样具有相同隐式偏差。该分析为理解本地步数较大时即使数据异构仍表现良好的现象提供了新视角。最后,我们讨论了该结果向Local-SGD及非可分数据的扩展。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

In distributed training of machine learning models, gradient descent with local iterative steps, commonly known as Local (Stochastic) Gradient Descent (Local-(S)GD) or Federated averaging (FedAvg), is a very popular method to mitigate communication burden. In this method, gradient steps based on local datasets are taken independently in distributed compute nodes to update the local models, which are then aggregated intermittently. In the interpolation regime, Local-GD can converge to zero training loss. However, with many potential solutions corresponding to zero training loss, it is not known which solution Local-GD converges to. In this work we answer this question by analyzing implicit bias of Local-GD for classification tasks with linearly separable data. For the interpolation regime, our analysis shows that the aggregated global model obtained from Local-GD, with arbitrary number of local steps, converges exactly to the model that would be obtained if all data were in one place (centralized model) ''in direction''. Our result gives the exact rate of convergence to the centralized model with respect to the number of local steps. We also obtain the same implicit bias with a learning rate independent of number of local steps with a modified version of the Local-GD algorithm. Our analysis provides a new view to understand why Local-GD can still perform well with a very large number of local steps even for heterogeneous data. Lastly, we also discuss the extension of our results to Local-SGD and non-separable data.

分布式训练联邦学习隐式偏差

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