Non-uniform regularization in artificial neural networks for adaptable scaling

Abstract

A system for flexible regularization and adaptable scaling of an artificial neural network is provided. The system includes a memory to store an artificial neural network and training data, a processor and interface to submit signals and training data into the neural network having a sequence of layers, each layer includes a set of neuron nodes, wherein a pair of nodes from neighboring layers are mutually connected with a plural of trainable parameters to pass the signals from the previous layer to next layer, a random number generator to modify the output signal of each neuron nodes for regularization in a stochastic manner following a multi-dimensional distribution across layer depth and node width directions of the neural network, wherein at least one layer has non-identical profile across neuron nodes, a training operator to update the neural network parameters by using the training data such that the output of neural network provides better values in a plural of objective functions; and an adaptive truncator to prune the output of neuron nodes at each layer in a compressed size of the neural network to reduce the computational complexity on the fly in downstream testing phase for any new incoming data.