Training with ML-labeled Data via Stochastic First- and Zeroth-Order Optimization
Abstract
Training a machine learning (ML) model is an optimization process that typically requires a set of examples with ground-truth labels beforehand. Obtaining these ground truths usually requires laborious human effort and can be costly. The scalability of human labeling becomes a concern when there are a large number of data points that need to be labeled. To address this practical issue, we consider an optimization setting where a subset of samples has ground-truth labels, while the remaining data points were labeled by an ML predictor, which could potentially assign incorrect labels to those points. We propose both first-order and zeroth-order stochastic optimization methods for training on datasets consisting of a mix of true-labeled and ML-labeled samples. We further conduct comprehensive empirical studies from training a linear regression model to fine-tuning a large language model (LLM) to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms for training with ML-labeled data.
Related
- Accelerated Stochastic Zeroth-Order Quasar-Convex Optimization
- Stochastic Lie-Bracket Approximations for Zeroth-Order Optimization on Manifolds
- Multilevel Monte Carlo for Zeroth-Order Stochastic Bilevel Optimization with Inexact Lower Level Solves
- An Ω(κy8ε−6) Lower Bound for Stochastic NC-SC Bilevel Optimization with First-order Oracles
- Optimal Stochastic Bilevel Optimization with First-Order Oracles
BibTeX
@misc{sfyraki2026training,
title = {{Training with ML-labeled Data via Stochastic First- and Zeroth-Order Optimization}},
author = {Maria-Eleni Sfyraki and Jun-Kun Wang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.26790},
eprint = {2610.26790},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26790},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Training with ML-labeled Data via Stochastic First- and Zeroth-Order Optimization
AU - Maria-Eleni Sfyraki
AU - Jun-Kun Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.26790
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26790
AB - Training a machine learning (ML) model is an optimization process that typically requires a set of examples with ground-truth labels beforehand. Obtaining these ground truths usually requires laborious human effort and can be costly. The scalability of human labeling becomes a concern when there are a large number of data points that need to be labeled. To address this practical issue, we consider an optimization setting where a subset of samples has ground-truth labels, while the remaining data points were labeled by an ML predictor, which could potentially assign incorrect labels to those points. We propose both first-order and zeroth-order stochastic optimization methods for training on datasets consisting of a mix of true-labeled and ML-labeled samples. We further conduct comprehensive empirical studies from training a linear regression model to fine-tuning a large language model (LLM) to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms for training with ML-labeled data.
ER -