arXiv — Machine Learning · · 3 min read

Rethinking Learning-Based Influence Maximization: Simple Neural Surrogates and Native Discrete Search

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Computer Science > Machine Learning

arXiv:2608.08406 (cs)
[Submitted on 9 Aug 2026]

Title:Rethinking Learning-Based Influence Maximization: Simple Neural Surrogates and Native Discrete Search

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Abstract:Existing learning-based influence maximization frameworks rely heavily on complex neural architectures and continuous optimization over seed representations. We challenge this paradigm with SIMBA, a diffusion-model-agnostic framework pairing a lightweight neural surrogate with direct discrete search. SIMBA introduces three key components: 1) uniformly anchored node embeddings that eliminate initialization noise and encourage learning driven by graph topology and diffusion pattern, 2) a shallow two-layer graph neural network surrogate predicting final infection states, and 3) batched multi-swap simulated annealing that explores combinatorial seed space without gradients or continuous relaxation. By shifting compute from complex representation learning to effective discrete search, SIMBA drastically cuts time-to-solution while achieving superior influence spread and data efficiency. Our code is available at this https URL.
Subjects: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.08406 [cs.LG]
  (or arXiv:2608.08406v1 [cs.LG] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.08406
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

Submission history

From: Yiqiao Liao [view email]
[v1] Sun, 9 Aug 2026 01:47:51 UTC (899 KB)
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