*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
Tess Malone, Communications Officer
Summary Sentence: Machine Learning: Why Do Simple Algorithms Work So Well?
Full Summary: No summary paragraph submitted.
Chi JinTITLE: Machine Learning: Why Do Simple Algorithms Work So Well?
ABSTRACT:
While state-of-the-art machine learning models are deep, large-scale, sequential, and highly nonconvex, the backbone of modern learning algorithms are simple algorithms such as stochastic gradient descent, or Q-learning (in the case of reinforcement learning tasks). A basic question endures —why do simple algorithms work so well even in these challenging settings?
This talk focuses on two fundamental problems: (1) in nonconvex optimization, can gradient descent escape saddle points efficiently? (2) In reinforcement learning, is Q-learning sample efficient? We will provide the first line of provably positive answers to both questions. In particular, we will show that simple modifications to these classical algorithms guarantee significantly better properties, which explains the underlying mechanisms behind their favorable performance in practice.
BIO:
Chi Jin is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at UC Berkeley, advised by Michael I. Jordan. He received a B.S. in Physics from Peking University. His research interests lie in machine learning, statistics, and optimization, with his PhD work primarily focused on nonconvex optimization and reinforcement learning.
