Amortized Multi-Objective Optimization Across Tasks with Generative Solution Modeling
About
Many real-world applications require solving families of expensive multi-objective optimization problems~(EMOPs) under varying operational conditions. This can be formulated as parametric expensive multi-objective optimization problems (P-EMOPs) where each task parameter defines a distinct optimization instance. Current multi-objective Bayesian optimization methods have been widely used for finding finite sets of Pareto optimal solutions for each task. However, P-EMOPs present a fundamental challenge: the continuous task parameter space can contain infinite distinct problems, each requiring separate expensive evaluations. To address this, we propose learning an inverse model to amortize the multi-objective optimization cost across the continuous task-preference space, enabling direct solution prediction for any query without the need for expensive re-evaluation. This paper introduces a novel parametric multi-objective Bayesian optimizer that learns this inverse model by alternating between (1) generative solution sampling via conditional generative models and (2) acquisition-driven search leveraging inter-task synergies. This approach enables effective optimization across multiple tasks and finally achieves direct solution prediction for unseen parameterized EMOPs without re-evaluations. We theoretically justify the faster convergence by leveraging inter-task synergies through task-aware Gaussian processes. Based on that, empirical studies in synthetic and real-world benchmarks further verify the effectiveness of the proposed parametric optimizer.
Related benchmarks
| Task | Dataset | Result | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-Objective Optimization | DTLZ2 | Hypervolume (HV)3.13 | 23 | |
| Multi-Objective Optimization | DTLZ1 | Hypervolume (HV)3.37e+4 | 23 | |
| Multi-Objective Optimization | DTLZ3 | HV3.09e+4 | 19 | |
| Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization | LaMP | Hypervolume0.648 | 10 | |
| Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization | solar | Hypervolume0.787 | 10 | |
| Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization | UAV | Hypervolume60.7 | 10 | |
| Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization | MAGNETIC | Hypervolume0.201 | 10 | |
| Inverse Model Generalization | DTLZ-1 | Hypervolume3.47e+4 | 5 | |
| Inverse Model Generalization | DTLZ-2 | Hypervolume3.13 | 5 | |
| Inverse Model Generalization | DTLZ-3 | Hypervolume3.20e+4 | 5 |