Word
epistemic uncertainty
Definition
n. uncertainty caused by a lack of knowledge or data, which can be reduced by collecting more information.
n. reducible uncertainty in statistical and neural models stemming from insufficient training data or incomplete parameter specification.
Examples
“The doctor had epistemic uncertainty because the patient's medical history was incomplete.”
“Active learning systems query human experts specifically on examples where model epistemic uncertainty is highest.”
“Bayesian neural networks explicitly quantify epistemic uncertainty by maintaining a posterior distribution over network weights.”
Examples
simple
“The doctor had epistemic uncertainty because the patient's medical history was incomplete.”
contextual
“Active learning systems query human experts specifically on examples where model epistemic uncertainty is highest.”
complex
“Bayesian neural networks explicitly quantify epistemic uncertainty by maintaining a posterior distribution over network weights.”
Real-World Examples
“Epistemic uncertainty arises from the lack of knowledge about the ground truth (e.g., facts or grammar in the language), stemming from various reasons such as insufficient amount of training data or model capacity.” Etymology
Compound technical term combining epistemic (from Greek episteme, 'knowledge') with uncertainty, formalized in Bayesian decision theory and modern machine learning.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/epistemic-uncertainty