Classification with Rejection Based on Cost-sensitive Classification

Abstract: The goal of classification with rejection is to avoid risky misclassification in error-critical applications such as medical diagnosis and product inspection. In this paper, based on the relationship between classification with rejection and cost-sensitive classification, we propose a novel method of classification with rejection by learning an ensemble of cost-sensitive classifiers, which satisfies all the following properties: (i) it can avoid estimating class-posterior probabilities, resulting in improved classification accuracy, (ii) it allows a flexible choice of losses including non-convex ones, (iii) it does not require complicated modifications when using different losses, (iv) it is applicable to both binary and multiclass cases, and (v) it is theoretically justifiable for any classification-calibrated loss. Experimental results demonstrate the usefulness of our proposed approach in clean-labeled, noisy-labeled, and positive-unlabeled classification.