Bayesian Optimization Flashcards
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Bayesian Optimization
Bayesian Optimization is a method of finding the maximum (or minimum) of an unknown function, in this case the validation score of a machine learning model as a function of hyperparameters. It’s an effective and efficient method for hyperparameter tuning, particularly useful when the number of hyperparameters or their possible values are large. In summary, Bayesian Optimization is a potent, efficient, and widely applicable method for hyperparameter tuning in machine learning that balances exploitation and exploration to find the best hyperparameters.
- Definition
Bayesian Optimization is a sequential design strategy for global optimization of black-box functions that doesn’t assume any functional forms. It’s based on Bayesian models, where prior information about the function is updated with samples drawn from the function to get a posterior that better approximates the function.
- Probabilistic Model
Bayesian Optimization builds a probabilistic model of the objective function and uses it to select the most promising hyperparameters to evaluate in the true objective function.
- Acquisition Function
The selection of the next hyperparameters to evaluate is often based on an acquisition function that trades off exploitation and exploration. Exploitation involves choosing hyperparameters where the model predicts a good outcome, while exploration involves choosing hyperparameters where the model is uncertain.
- Model Updating
After each evaluation of the objective function, the probabilistic model is updated taking into consideration the new observation.
- Global Optimization
Bayesian Optimization is particularly useful for global optimization problems where the objective function is expensive to evaluate, has noisy evaluations, or doesn’t have an analytical form.
- Efficiency
Compared to Grid Search and Random Search, Bayesian Optimization can find better solutions with fewer evaluations of the objective function, making it more efficient, especially for high-dimensional hyperparameter spaces.
- Usage
Bayesian Optimization can be used for hyperparameter tuning in a wide range of machine learning algorithms, from traditional methods like Support Vector Machines and Decision Trees, to complex Neural Networks.
- Toolkits
Several Python libraries exist for Bayesian Optimization, such as Hyperopt, Scikit-Optimize, and Spearmint.
- Limitations
Although Bayesian Optimization is a powerful tool, it does have limitations. It may not perform well when the dimensionality of the hyperparameter space is extremely high. Also, building the probabilistic model could be computationally expensive for very large datasets.