Introduction to
Semi-Supervised Learning
Synthesis Lectures on
Artificial Intelligence and
Machine Learning
Editors
Ronald J. Brachman, Yahoo! Research
Thomas Dietterich, Oregon State University
Introduction to Semi-Supervised Learning
Xiaojin Zhu and Andrew B. Goldberg
2009
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Copyright © 2009 by Morgan & Claypool
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
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Introduction to Semi-Supervised Learning
Xiaojin Zhu and Andrew B. Goldberg
www.morganclaypool.com
ISBN: 9781598295474
ISBN: 9781598295481
paperback
ebook
DOI 10.2200/S00196ED1V01Y200906AIM006
A Publication in the Morgan & Claypool Publishers series
SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING
Lecture #6
Series Editors: Ronald J. Brachman, Yahoo! Research
Thomas Dietterich, Oregon State University
Series ISSN
Synthesis Lectures on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Print 1939-4608 Electronic 1939-4616
Introduction to
Semi-Supervised Learning
Xiaojin Zhu and Andrew B. Goldberg
University of Wisconsin, Madison
SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND
MACHINE LEARNING #6
CM&
Morgan
&
cLaypool
publishers
ABSTRACT
Semi-supervised learning is a learning paradigm concerned with the study of how computers and
natural systems such as humans learn in the presence of both labeled and unlabeled data.Traditionally,
learning has been studied either in the unsupervised paradigm (e.g., clustering, outlier detection)
where all the data is unlabeled, or in the supervised paradigm (e.g., classification, regression) where
all the data is labeled. The goal of semi-supervised learning is to understand how combining labeled
and unlabeled data may change the learning behavior, and design algorithms that take advantage
of such a combination. Semi-supervised learning is of great interest in machine learning and data
mining because it can use readily available unlabeled data to improve supervised learning tasks when
the labeled data is scarce or expensive. Semi-supervised learning also shows potential as a quantitative
tool to understand human category learning, where most of the input is self-evidently unlabeled.
In this introductory book, we present some popular semi-supervised learning models, including
self-training, mixture models, co-training and multiview learning, graph-based methods, and semi-
supervised support vector machines. For each model, we discuss its basic mathematical formulation.
The success of semi-supervised learning depends critically on some underlying assumptions. We
emphasize the assumptions made by each model and give counterexamples when appropriate to
demonstrate the limitations of the different models. In addition, we discuss semi-supervised learning
for cognitive psychology. Finally, we give a computational learning theoretic perspective on semi-
supervised learning, and we conclude the book with a brief discussion of open questions in the
field.
KEYWORDS
semi-supervised learning, transductive learning, self-training, Gaussian mixture model,
expectation maximization (EM), cluster-then-label, co-training, multiview learning,
mincut, harmonic function, label propagation, manifold regularization, semi-supervised
support vector machines (S3VM), transductive support vector machines (TSVM), en-
tropy regularization, human semi-supervised learning
To our parents
Yu and Jingquan
Susan and Steven Goldberg
with much love and gratitude.