Conformal Prediction for Regression with Clipped Outcomes

We study conformal prediction for regression using calibration data with outcomes that are doubly censored (clipped) at known fixed thresholds.

We show that existing methods are unsatisfactory in this setting, as they yield intervals that may have higher marginal coverage than desired and yet lose conditional coverage precisely for the easier-to-predict cases whose outcomes are typically fully observed.

This reveals that marginal coverage, the usual target of conformal prediction, may not be the ideal goal under clipping.

We address this challenge by introducing a new nonconformity score and calibration methods at both ends of this trade-off: one for tight marginal coverage, and a two-step method that prioritizes conditional coverage.

We characterize their finite-sample coverage and oracle-like asymptotic behavior under suitable consistency of the underlying model, and we compare them to more direct adaptations of existing approaches.