Gradient-Based Optimization of Hyperparameters

  • Authors:
  • Yoshua Bengio

  • Affiliations:
  • Département d'informatique et recherche opérationnelle, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7

  • Venue:
  • Neural Computation
  • Year:
  • 2000

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Abstract

Many machine learning algorithms can be formulated as the minimization of a training criterion that involves a hyperparameter. This hyperparameter is usually chosen by trial and error with a model selection criterion. In this article we present a methodology to optimize several hyperparameters, based on the computation of the gradient of a model selection criterion with respect to the hyperparameters. In the case of a quadratic training criterion, the gradient of the selection criterion with respect to the hyperparameters is efficiently computed by backpropagating through a Cholesky decomposition. In the more general case, we show that the implicit function theorem can be used to derive a formula for the hyperparameter gradient involving second derivatives of the training criterion.