Graph Embeddings at Scale

Abstract: Graph embedding is a popular algorithmic approach for creating vector representations for individual vertices in networks. Training these algorithms at scale is important for creating embeddings that can be used for classification, ranking, recommendation and other common applications in industry. While industrial systems exist for training graph embeddings on large datasets, many of these distributed architectures are forced to partition copious amounts of data and model logic across many worker nodes. In this paper, we propose a distributed infrastructure that completely avoids graph partitioning, dynamically creates size constrained computational graphs across worker nodes, and uses highly efficient indexing operations for updating embeddings that allow the system to function at scale. We show that our system can scale an existing embeddings algorithm - skip-gram - to train on the open-source Friendster network (68 million vertices) and on an internal heterogeneous graph (50 million vertices). We measure the performance of our system on two key quantitative metrics: link-prediction accuracy and rate of convergence. We conclude this work by analyzing how a greater number of worker nodes actually improves our system's performance on the aforementioned metrics and discuss our next steps for rigorously evaluating the embedding vectors produced by our system.