OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Agents Are Not Enough
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

In the midst of the growing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into various aspects of our lives, agents are experiencing a resurgence. These autonomous programs that act on behalf of humans are neither new nor exclusive to the mainstream AI movement. By exploring past incarnations of agents, we can understand what has been done previously, what worked, and more importantly, what did not pan out and why. This understanding lets us to examine what distinguishes the current focus on agents. While generative AI is appealing, this technology alone is insufficient to make new generations of agents more successful. To make the current wave of agents effective and sustainable, we envision an ecosystem that includes not only agents but also Sims, which represent user preferences and behaviors, as well as Assistants, which directly interact with the user and coordinate the execution of user tasks with the help of the agents.
Optimizing Low-Speed Autonomous Driving: A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Route Stability and Maximum Speed
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

Autonomous driving has garnered significant attention in recent years, especially in optimizing vehicle performance under varying conditions. This paper addresses the challenge of maintaining maximum speed stability in low-speed autonomous driving while following a predefined route. Leveraging reinforcement learning (RL), we propose a novel approach to optimize driving policies that enable the vehicle to achieve near-maximum speed without compromising on safety or route accuracy, even in low-speed scenarios.
Decoding fairness: a reinforcement learning perspective
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Behavioral experiments on the ultimatum game (UG) reveal that we humans prefer fair acts, which contradicts the prediction made in orthodox Economics. Existing explanations, however, are mostly attributed to exogenous factors within the imitation learning framework. Here, we adopt the reinforcement learning paradigm, where individuals make their moves aiming to maximize their accumulated rewards. Specifically, we apply Q-learning to UG, where each player is assigned two Q-tables to guide decisions for the roles of proposer and responder. In a two-player scenario, fairness emerges prominently when both experiences and future rewards are appreciated. In particular, the probability of successful deals increases with higher offers, which aligns with observations in behavioral experiments. Our mechanism analysis reveals that the system undergoes two phases, eventually stabilizing into fair or rational strategies. These results are robust when the rotating role assignment is replaced by a random or fixed manner, or the scenario is extended to a latticed population. Our findings thus conclude that the endogenous factor is sufficient to explain the emergence of fairness, exogenous factors are not needed.
Post-hoc Interpretability Illumination for Scientific Interaction Discovery
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Model interpretability and explainability have garnered substantial attention in recent years, particularly in decision-making applications. However, existing interpretability tools often fall short in delivering satisfactory performance due to limited capabilities or efficiency issues. To address these challenges, we propose a novel post-hoc method: Iterative Kings' Forests (iKF), designed to uncover complex multi-order interactions among variables. iKF iteratively selects the next most important variable, the "King", and constructs King's Forests by placing it at the root node of each tree to identify variables that interact with the "King". It then generates ranked short lists of important variables and interactions of varying orders. Additionally, iKF provides inference metrics to analyze the patterns of the selected interactions and classify them into one of three interaction types: Accompanied Interaction, Synergistic Interaction, and Hierarchical Interaction. Extensive experiments demonstrate the strong interpretive power of our proposed iKF, highlighting its great potential for explainable modeling and scientific discovery across diverse scientific fields.
Improving Equity in Health Modeling with GPT4-Turbo Generated Synthetic Data: A Comparative Study
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Objective. Demographic groups are often represented at different rates in medical datasets. These differences can create bias in machine learning algorithms, with higher levels of performance for better-represented groups. One promising solution to this problem is to generate synthetic data to mitigate potential adverse effects of non-representative data sets. Methods. We build on recent advances in LLM-based synthetic data generation to create a pipeline where the synthetic data is generated separately for each demographic group. We conduct our study using MIMIC-IV and Framingham "Offspring and OMNI-1 Cohorts" datasets. We prompt GPT4-Turbo to create group-specific data, providing training examples and the dataset context. An exploratory analysis is conducted to ascertain the quality of the generated data. We then evaluate the utility of the synthetic data for augmentation of a training dataset in a downstream machine learning task, focusing specifically on model performance metrics across groups. Results. The performance of GPT4-Turbo augmentation is generally superior but not always. In the majority of experiments our method outperforms standard modeling baselines, however, prompting GPT-4-Turbo to produce data specific to a group provides little to no additional benefit over a prompt that does not specify the group. Conclusion. We developed a method for using LLMs out-of-the-box to synthesize group-specific data to address imbalances in demographic representation in medical datasets. As another "tool in the toolbox", this method can improve model fairness and thus health equity. More research is needed to understand the conditions under which LLM generated synthetic data is useful for non-representative medical data sets.
A Machine Learning Approach for Emergency Detection in Medical Scenarios Using Large Language Models
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

The rapid identification of medical emergencies through digital communication channels remains a critical challenge in modern healthcare delivery, particularly with the increasing prevalence of telemedicine. This paper presents a novel approach leveraging large language models (LLMs) and prompt engineering techniques for automated emergency detection in medical communications. We developed and evaluated a comprehensive system using multiple LLaMA model variants (1B, 3B, and 7B parameters) to classify medical scenarios as emergency or non-emergency situations. Our methodology incorporated both system prompts and in-prompt training approaches, evaluated across different hardware configurations. The results demonstrate exceptional performance, with the LLaMA 2 (7B) model achieving 99.7% accuracy and the LLaMA 3.2 (3B) model reaching 99.6% accuracy with optimal prompt engineering. Through systematic testing of training examples within the prompts, we identified that including 10 example scenarios in the model prompts yielded optimal classification performance. Processing speeds varied significantly between platforms, ranging from 0.05 to 2.2 seconds per request. The system showed particular strength in minimizing high-risk false negatives in emergency scenarios, which is crucial for patient safety. The code implementation and evaluation framework are publicly available on GitHub, facilitating further research and development in this crucial area of healthcare technology.
VerSe: Integrating Multiple Queries as Prompts for Versatile Cardiac MRI Segmentation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Despite the advances in learning-based image segmentation approach, the accurate segmentation of cardiac structures from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains a critical challenge. While existing automatic segmentation methods have shown promise, they still require extensive manual corrections of the segmentation results by human experts, particularly in complex regions such as the basal and apical parts of the heart. Recent efforts have been made on developing interactive image segmentation methods that enable human-in-the-loop learning. However, they are semi-automatic and inefficient, due to their reliance on click-based prompts, especially for 3D cardiac MRI volumes. To address these limitations, we propose VerSe, a Versatile Segmentation framework to unify automatic and interactive segmentation through mutiple queries. Our key innovation lies in the joint learning of object and click queries as prompts for a shared segmentation backbone. VerSe supports both fully automatic segmentation, through object queries, and interactive mask refinement, by providing click queries when needed. With the proposed integrated prompting scheme, VerSe demonstrates significant improvement in performance and efficiency over existing methods, on both cardiac MRI and out-of-distribution medical imaging datasets. The code is available at https://github.com/bangwayne/Verse.
Revisiting MLLMs: An In-Depth Analysis of Image Classification Abilities
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

With the rapid advancement of Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs), a variety of benchmarks have been introduced to evaluate their capabilities. While most evaluations have focused on complex tasks such as scientific comprehension and visual reasoning, little attention has been given to assessing their fundamental image classification abilities. In this paper, we address this gap by thoroughly revisiting the MLLMs with an in-depth analysis of image classification. Specifically, building on established datasets, we examine a broad spectrum of scenarios, from general classification tasks (e.g., ImageNet, ObjectNet) to more fine-grained categories such as bird and food classification. Our findings reveal that the most recent MLLMs can match or even outperform CLIP-style vision-language models on several datasets, challenging the previous assumption that MLLMs are bad at image classification \cite{VLMClassifier}. To understand the factors driving this improvement, we conduct an in-depth analysis of the network architecture, data selection, and training recipe used in public MLLMs. Our results attribute this success to advancements in language models and the diversity of training data sources. Based on these observations, we further analyze and attribute the potential reasons to conceptual knowledge transfer and enhanced exposure of target concepts, respectively. We hope our findings will offer valuable insights for future research on MLLMs and their evaluation in image classification tasks.
WiP: Deception-in-Depth Using Multiple Layers of Deception
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2024
Year: 2024

Deception is being increasingly explored as a cyberdefense strategy to protect operational systems. We are studying implementation of deception-in-depth strategies with initially three logical layers: network, host, and data. We draw ideas from military deception, network orchestration, software deception, file deception, fake honeypots, and moving-target defenses. We are building a prototype representing our ideas and will be testing it in several adversarial environments. We hope to show that deploying a broad range of deception techniques can be more effective in protecting systems than deploying single techniques. Unlike traditional deception methods that try to encourage active engagement from attackers to collect intelligence, we focus on deceptions that can be used on real machines to discourage attacks.
Object Detection Approaches to Identifying Hand Images with High Forensic Values
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Forensic science plays a crucial role in legal investigations, and the use of advanced technologies, such as object detection based on machine learning methods, can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of forensic analysis. Human hands are unique and can leave distinct patterns, marks, or prints that can be utilized for forensic examinations. This paper compares various machine learning approaches to hand detection and presents the application results of employing the best-performing model to identify images of significant importance in forensic contexts. We fine-tune YOLOv8 and vision transformer-based object detection models on four hand image datasets, including the 11k hands dataset with our own bounding boxes annotated by a semi-automatic approach. Two YOLOv8 variants, i.e., YOLOv8 nano (YOLOv8n) and YOLOv8 extra-large (YOLOv8x), and two vision transformer variants, i.e., DEtection TRansformer (DETR) and Detection Transformers with Assignment (DETA), are employed for the experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that the YOLOv8 models outperform DETR and DETA on all datasets. The experiments also show that YOLOv8 approaches result in superior performance compared with existing hand detection methods, which were based on YOLOv3 and YOLOv4 models. Applications of our fine-tuned YOLOv8 models for identifying hand images (or frames in a video) with high forensic values produce excellent results, significantly reducing the time required by forensic experts. This implies that our approaches can be implemented effectively for real-world applications in forensics or related fields.
When Can Proxies Improve the Sample Complexity of Preference Learning?
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

We address the problem of reward hacking, where maximising a proxy reward does not necessarily increase the true reward. This is a key concern for Large Language Models (LLMs), as they are often fine-tuned on human preferences that may not accurately reflect a true objective. Existing work uses various tricks such as regularisation, tweaks to the reward model, and reward hacking detectors, to limit the influence that such proxy preferences have on a model. Luckily, in many contexts such as medicine, education, and law, a sparse amount of expert data is often available. In these cases, it is often unclear whether the addition of proxy data can improve policy learning. We outline a set of sufficient conditions on proxy feedback that, if satisfied, indicate that proxy data can provably improve the sample complexity of learning the ground truth policy. These conditions can inform the data collection process for specific tasks. The result implies a parameterisation for LLMs that achieves this improved sample complexity. We detail how one can adapt existing architectures to yield this improved sample complexity.
Query Quantized Neural SLAM
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Neural implicit representations have shown remarkable abilities in jointly modeling geometry, color, and camera poses in simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Current methods use coordinates, positional encodings, or other geometry features as input to query neural implicit functions for signed distances and color which produce rendering errors to drive the optimization in overfitting image observations. However, due to the run time efficiency requirement in SLAM systems, we are merely allowed to conduct optimization on each frame in few iterations, which is far from enough for neural networks to overfit these queries. The underfitting usually results in severe drifts in camera tracking and artifacts in reconstruction. To resolve this issue, we propose query quantized neural SLAM which uses quantized queries to reduce variations of input for much easier and faster overfitting a frame. To this end, we quantize a query into a discrete representation with a set of codes, and only allow neural networks to observe a finite number of variations. This allows neural networks to become increasingly familiar with these codes after overfitting more and more previous frames. Moreover, we also introduce novel initialization, losses, and argumentation to stabilize the optimization with significant uncertainty in the early optimization stage, constrain the optimization space, and estimate camera poses more accurately. We justify the effectiveness of each design and report visual and numerical comparisons on widely used benchmarks to show our superiority over the latest methods in both reconstruction and camera tracking.
Enhancing Nighttime Vehicle Detection with Day-to-Night Style Transfer and Labeling-Free Augmentation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Existing deep learning-based object detection models perform well under daytime conditions but face significant challenges at night, primarily because they are predominantly trained on daytime images. Additionally, training with nighttime images presents another challenge: even human annotators struggle to accurately label objects in low-light conditions. This issue is particularly pronounced in transportation applications, such as detecting vehicles and other objects of interest on rural roads at night, where street lighting is often absent, and headlights may introduce undesirable glare. This study addresses these challenges by introducing a novel framework for labeling-free data augmentation, leveraging CARLA-generated synthetic data for day-to-night image style transfer. Specifically, the framework incorporates the Efficient Attention Generative Adversarial Network for realistic day-to-night style transfer and uses CARLA-generated synthetic nighttime images to help the model learn vehicle headlight effects. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed framework, we fine-tuned the YOLO11 model with an augmented dataset specifically curated for rural nighttime environments, achieving significant improvements in nighttime vehicle detection. This novel approach is simple yet effective, offering a scalable solution to enhance AI-based detection systems in low-visibility environments and extend the applicability of object detection models to broader real-world contexts.
Automated CVE Analysis: Harnessing Machine Learning In Designing Question-Answering Models For Cybersecurity Information Extraction
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2024
Year: 2024

The vast majority of cybersecurity information is unstructured text, including critical data within databases such as CVE, NVD, CWE, CAPEC, and the MITRE ATT&CK Framework. These databases are invaluable for analyzing attack patterns and understanding attacker behaviors. Creating a knowledge graph by integrating this information could unlock significant insights. However, processing this large amount of data requires advanced deep-learning techniques. A crucial step towards building such a knowledge graph is developing a robust mechanism for automating the extraction of answers to specific questions from the unstructured text. Question Answering (QA) systems play a pivotal role in this process by pinpointing and extracting precise information, facilitating the mapping of relationships between various data points. In the cybersecurity context, QA systems encounter unique challenges due to the need to interpret and answer questions based on a wide array of domain-specific information. To tackle these challenges, it is necessary to develop a cybersecurity-specific dataset and train a machine learning model on it, aimed at enhancing the understanding and retrieval of domain-specific information. This paper presents a novel dataset and describes a machine learning model trained on this dataset for the QA task. It also discusses the model's performance and key findings in a manner that maintains a balance between formality and accessibility.
Evaluating the Performance of Large Language Models in Scientific Claim Detection and Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2024
Year: 2024

The pervasive influence of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a double-edged sword, enhancing communication while simultaneously propagating misinformation. This \textit{Digital Infodemic} has highlighted the urgent need for automated tools capable of discerning and disseminating factual content. This study evaluates the efficacy of Large Language Models (LLMs) as innovative solutions for mitigating misinformation on platforms like Twitter. LLMs, such as OpenAI's GPT and Meta's LLaMA, offer a pre-trained, adaptable approach that bypasses the extensive training and overfitting issues associated with traditional machine learning models. We assess the performance of LLMs in detecting and classifying COVID-19-related scientific claims, thus facilitating informed decision-making. Our findings indicate that LLMs have significant potential as automated fact-checking tools, though research in this domain is nascent and further exploration is required. We present a comparative analysis of LLMs' performance using a specialized dataset and propose a framework for their application in public health communication.
VSFormer: Value and Shape-Aware Transformer with Prior-Enhanced Self-Attention for Multivariate Time Series Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Multivariate time series classification is a crucial task in data mining, attracting growing research interest due to its broad applications. While many existing methods focus on discovering discriminative patterns in time series, real-world data does not always present such patterns, and sometimes raw numerical values can also serve as discriminative features. Additionally, the recent success of Transformer models has inspired many studies. However, when applying to time series classification, the self-attention mechanisms in Transformer models could introduce classification-irrelevant features, thereby compromising accuracy. To address these challenges, we propose a novel method, VSFormer, that incorporates both discriminative patterns (shape) and numerical information (value). In addition, we extract class-specific prior information derived from supervised information to enrich the positional encoding and provide classification-oriented self-attention learning, thereby enhancing its effectiveness. Extensive experiments on all 30 UEA archived datasets demonstrate the superior performance of our method compared to SOTA models. Through ablation studies, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the improved encoding layer and the proposed self-attention mechanism. Finally, We provide a case study on a real-world time series dataset without discriminative patterns to interpret our model.
From Creation to Curriculum: Examining the role of generative AI in Arts Universities
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

The age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is marked by its transformative "generative" capabilities, distinguishing it from prior iterations. This burgeoning characteristic of AI has enabled it to produce new and original content, inherently showcasing its creative prowess. This shift challenges and requires a recalibration in the realm of arts education, urging a departure from established pedagogies centered on human-driven image creation. The paper meticulously addresses the integration of AI tools, with a spotlight on Stable Diffusion (SD), into university arts curricula. Drawing from practical insights gathered from workshops conducted in July 2023, which culminated in an exhibition of AI-driven artworks, the paper aims to provide a roadmap for seamlessly infusing these tools into academic settings. Given their recent emergence, the paper delves into a comprehensive overview of such tools, emphasizing the intricate dance between artists, developers, and researchers in the open-source AI art world. This discourse extends to the challenges and imperatives faced by educational institutions. It presents a compelling case for the swift adoption of these avant-garde tools, underscoring the paramount importance of equipping students with the competencies required to thrive in an AI-augmented artistic landscape.