Heterogeneous tabular data are the most commonly used form of data and are
essential for numerous critical and computationally demanding applications. On
homogeneous data sets, deep neural networks have repeatedly shown excellent
performance and have therefore been widely adopted. However, their application
to modeling tabular data (inference or generation) remains highly challenging.
This work provides an overview of state-of-the-art deep learning methods for
tabular data. We start by categorizing them into three groups: data
transformations, specialized architectures, and regularization models. We then
provide a comprehensive overview of the main approaches in each group. A
discussion of deep learning approaches for generating tabular data is
complemented by strategies for explaining deep models on tabular data. Our
primary contribution is to address the main research streams and existing
methodologies in this area, while highlighting relevant challenges and open
research questions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth
look at deep learning approaches for tabular data. This work can serve as a
valuable starting point and guide for researchers and practitioners interested
in deep learning with tabular data.
Authors
Vadim Borisov, Tobias Leemann, Kathrin Seßler, Johannes Haug, Martin Pawelczyk, Gjergji Kasneci