How to get reproducible results in keras

Question

I get different results (test accuracy) every time I run the imdb_lstm.py example from Keras framework (https://github.com/fchollet/keras/blob/master/examples/imdb_lstm.py) The code contains np.random.seed(1337) in the top, before any keras imports. It should prevent it from generating different numbers for every run. What am I missing?

UPDATE: How to repro:

1. Install Keras (http://keras.io/)
2. Execute https://github.com/fchollet/keras/blob/master/examples/imdb_lstm.py a few times. It will train the model and output test accuracy.
   Expected result: Test accuracy is the same on every run.
   Actual result: Test accuracy is different on every run.

UPDATE2: I'm running it on Windows 8.1 with MinGW/msys, module versions:
theano 0.7.0
numpy 1.8.1
scipy 0.14.0c1

UPDATE3: I narrowed the problem down a bit. If I run the example with GPU (set theano flag device=gpu0) then I get different test accuracy every time, but if I run it on CPU then everything works as expected. My graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 635)

Answer 1

You can find the answer at the Keras docs: https://keras.io/getting-started/faq/#how-can-i-obtain-reproducible-results-using-keras-during-development.

In short, to be absolutely sure that you will get reproducible results with your python script on one computer's/laptop's CPU then you will have to do the following:

1. Set the PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable at a fixed value
2. Set the python built-in pseudo-random generator at a fixed value
3. Set the numpy pseudo-random generator at a fixed value
4. Set the tensorflow pseudo-random generator at a fixed value
5. Configure a new global tensorflow session

Following the Keras link at the top, the source code I am using is the following:

# Seed value
# Apparently you may use different seed values at each stage
seed_value= 0

# 1. Set the `PYTHONHASHSEED` environment variable at a fixed value
import os
os.environ['PYTHONHASHSEED']=str(seed_value)

# 2. Set the `python` built-in pseudo-random generator at a fixed value
import random
random.seed(seed_value)

# 3. Set the `numpy` pseudo-random generator at a fixed value
import numpy as np
np.random.seed(seed_value)

# 4. Set the `tensorflow` pseudo-random generator at a fixed value
import tensorflow as tf
tf.random.set_seed(seed_value)
# for later versions: 
# tf.compat.v1.set_random_seed(seed_value)

# 5. Configure a new global `tensorflow` session
from keras import backend as K
session_conf = tf.ConfigProto(intra_op_parallelism_threads=1, inter_op_parallelism_threads=1)
sess = tf.Session(graph=tf.get_default_graph(), config=session_conf)
K.set_session(sess)
# for later versions:
# session_conf = tf.compat.v1.ConfigProto(intra_op_parallelism_threads=1, inter_op_parallelism_threads=1)
# sess = tf.compat.v1.Session(graph=tf.compat.v1.get_default_graph(), config=session_conf)
# tf.compat.v1.keras.backend.set_session(sess)

It is needless to say that you do not have to to specify any seed or random_state at the numpy, scikit-learn or tensorflow/keras functions that you are using in your python script exactly because with the source code above we set globally their pseudo-random generators at a fixed value.

Answer 2

Theano's documentation talks about the difficulties of seeding random variables and why they seed each graph instance with its own random number generator.

Sharing a random number generator between different {{{RandomOp}}} instances makes it difficult to producing the same stream regardless of other ops in graph, and to keep {{{RandomOps}}} isolated. Therefore, each {{{RandomOp}}} instance in a graph will have its very own random number generator. That random number generator is an input to the function. In typical usage, we will use the new features of function inputs ({{{value}}}, {{{update}}}) to pass and update the rng for each {{{RandomOp}}}. By passing RNGs as inputs, it is possible to use the normal methods of accessing function inputs to access each {{{RandomOp}}}’s rng. In this approach it there is no pre-existing mechanism to work with the combined random number state of an entire graph. So the proposal is to provide the missing functionality (the last three requirements) via auxiliary functions: {{{seed, getstate, setstate}}}.

They also provide examples on how to seed all the random number generators.

You can also seed all of the random variables allocated by a RandomStreams object by that object’s seed method. This seed will be used to seed a temporary random number generator, that will in turn generate seeds for each of the random variables.

>>> srng.seed(902340)  # seeds rv_u and rv_n with different seeds each