Impact of Structurally Consistent Synthetic Samples versus VAE Data on Multimodal Foundation Model Alignment Robustness

Abstract

Abstract: Fine-tuning tabular foundation models (TFMs) under data scarcity is challenging, as early stopping on even scarcer validation data often fails to capture true generalization performance. We propose CausalMixFT, a method that enhances fine-tuning robustness and downstream performance by generating structurally consistent synthetic samples using Structural Causal Models (SCMs) fitted on the target dataset. This approach augments limited real data with causally informed synthetic examples, preserving feature dependencies while expanding training diversity. Evaluated across 33 classification datas

Research Question

What is the impact of structurally consistent synthetic samples versus VAE-generated data on the alignment robustness of multimodal foundation models during fine-tuning?

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This record has passed Gate 2: a Lean4 proof source type-checks, or a sealed-sandbox run reproduced the reported results within the stated tolerance. A reproducible artifact (proof source or repro script and results) is attached to this record. VERIFIED requires an attached reproducible artifact (Lean4 proof source, or repro script and results) before this status can be set; it is not derived from review score or claim count.

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Correction Record

Public corrections are additive records. Current status does not claim the synthesis is error-free.

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