PAC-Bayesian Bounds on Constrained f-Entropic Risk Measures

arXiv stat.ML / 4/9/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper introduces “constrained f-entropic risk measures,” a new class of risk measures meant to better reflect subgroup imbalance and distributional shifts beyond standard expected-loss PAC bounds.
  • It formulates these measures using f-divergences and shows that they include Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) as a special case.
  • The authors derive both classical and “disintegrated” PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds for these constrained risks, claiming the first such subgroup-level guarantees beyond standard risk settings.
  • They propose a self-bounding algorithm that directly minimizes the derived bounds to obtain models with subgroup-level guarantees.
  • The paper concludes with empirical evidence supporting the practical usefulness of the approach.

Abstract

PAC generalization bounds on the risk, when expressed in terms of the expected loss, are often insufficient to capture imbalances between subgroups in the data. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a new family of risk measures, called constrained f-entropic risk measures, which enable finer control over distributional shifts and subgroup imbalances via f-divergences, and include the Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR), a well-known risk measure. We derive both classical and disintegrated PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds for this family of risks, providing the first disintegratedPAC-Bayesian guarantees beyond standard risks. Building on this theory, we design a self-bounding algorithm that minimizes our bounds directly, yielding models with guarantees at the subgroup level. Finally, we empirically demonstrate the usefulness of our approach.