Publication Data
Regret Minimization with Concept Drift
Abstract: In standard online learning, the goal of the learner is to
maintain an average loss close to the loss of the best-performing function in a fixed
class. Classic results show that simple algorithms can achieve an average loss
arbitrarily close to that of the best function in retrospect, even when input and
output pairs are chosen by an adversary. However, in many real-world applications such
as spam prediction and classification of news articles, the best target function may be
drifting over time. We introduce a novel model of concept drift in which an adversary
is given control of both the distribution over input at each time step and the
corresponding labels. The goal of the learner is to maintain an average loss close to
the 0/1 loss of the best slowly changing sequence of functions with no more than K
large shifts. We provide regret bounds for learning in this model using an
(inefficient) reduction to the standard no-regret setting. We then go on to provide and
analyze an efficient algorithm for learning d-dimensional hyperplanes with drift. We
conclude with some simulations illustrating the circumstances under which this
algorithm outperforms other commonly studied algorithms when the target hyperplane is
drifting.
