A Unified Stability Analysis of SAM vs SGD: Role of Data Coherence and Emergence of Simplicity Bias

arXiv — cs.LGMonday, November 24, 2025 at 5:00:00 AM
  • A recent study presents a unified stability analysis comparing Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) and Sharpness-Aware Minimization (SAM), focusing on the role of data coherence and the emergence of simplicity bias in optimization dynamics within deep learning models. The analysis employs a linear stability framework to explore the behavior of these algorithms in two-layer ReLU networks, revealing insights into the stability of certain minima based on gradient curvature alignment across data points.
  • This development is significant as it enhances the understanding of how optimization algorithms like SGD and SAM operate, particularly in overparameterized settings. By elucidating the relationship between data structure and optimization dynamics, the findings could lead to improved training strategies that favor flatter minima, which are associated with better generalization in machine learning models.
  • The exploration of optimization methods is crucial in the context of evolving artificial intelligence techniques, where the stability and efficiency of algorithms directly impact model performance. The ongoing research into SAM and its variants, alongside traditional methods like SGD, highlights a broader trend in the field towards refining optimization strategies to achieve better outcomes in complex tasks, such as image segmentation and other applications in deep learning.
— via World Pulse Now AI Editorial System

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