How Faithful Is Trajectory-Based Data Attribution? Error Sources, Remedies, and Practical Guidelines
Trajectory-based data attribution methods estimate the influence of training samples on model predictions by unrolling the training trajectory. They are widely used in applications such as data selection, data valuation, and model diagnosis, but there is a lack of comprehensive error analysis of these methods, raising concerns about method faithfulness and hindering reliable deployment. In this work, we provide the first systematic analysis of error sources in trajectory-based data attribution, together with concrete remedies to mitigate them and practical guidelines for downstream use. We organize the total error into three categories, config-level, algorithm-level, and system-level. We ...
| Authors | Junwei Deng, Pingbang Hu, Suliang Jin et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 12 May 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 12 May 2026 |
Silytics shows public metadata from arXiv and links to the original. Information may be incomplete or out of date. Last refreshed 17 October 2026. Licenses and terms of the original apply to the work itself. Not financial, legal or professional advice.