arXiv:2608.13793stat.MLcs.LG2026-08

MLE训练高斯过程易失效,本文提出更稳健的替代方案。

On the Brittleness of Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Gaussian Process Hyperparameter Optimization

  • 用理论指标替代最大似然估计,提升高斯过程鲁棒性
  • 在贝叶斯优化中显著改善预测精度与不确定性量化
  • 适合需可靠概率预测的工程设计场景

机器学习已成为现代工程设计流程的核心。模型训练的关键步骤是损失函数的选择,可通过最大似然估计(MLE)和交叉验证等方法系统化构建。尽管MLE广泛使用且直观有效,但其具有脆弱性:当假设不满足时,模型泛化能力会下降。这种脆弱性同样影响高斯过程(GPs),后者虽常被误认为对过拟合具有强鲁棒性。本文系统评估了在概率回归或分类任务中,训练GP时MLE的脆弱性,将理论基础更强的指标与MLE进行对比,并提出实用解决方案。大量实验表明,所提方法在贝叶斯优化等下游设计任务中表现优异,能构建出比表格式基础模型(tabular foundation models)在预测准确率、不确定性量化和推理成本方面更优的高斯过程。相关代码已公开于GitHub。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Machine learning (ML) has become an indispensable part of modern engineering design workflows. A crucial step in training an ML model is the selection of the loss function which can be systematically formulated via various techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and cross-validation . While MLE is one of the most popular, effective, and intuitive mechanisms for training ML models, it is brittle: if the assumptions underpinning it are not met, the trained ML model may generalize poorly. This brittleness affects even Gaussian processes (GPs) which are widely used in engineering design and are often (incorrectly) presumed to be very robust to overfitting. In this paper, we fundamentally evaluate the brittleness of MLE in the context of training GPs for probabilistic regression or classification tasks. We compare theoretically grounded metrics against MLE and propose practical solutions. Our extensive studies demonstrate the effectiveness of our solutions in downstream design tasks such as Bayesian optimization and provide a blueprint for practitioners to build accurate and robust GPs that can even outperform tabular foundation models in terms of prediction accuracy, uncertainty quantification, and inference cost. Our contributions are publicly available via GitHub at https://github.com/Bostanabad-Research-Group/GP-vs-TabPFN-vs-GPyTorch.

高斯过程最大似然鲁棒性贝叶斯优化

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