Deep neural networks with no multiplications and no floating point operations

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods that train and use neural networks that can be run with no multiplications and no floating point operations. In particular, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, the respective non-linear and continuous activation functions typically used by the nodes of a neural network can be replaced with custom activation functions that output one of a discrete number of activation values. Likewise, according to another aspect of the present disclosure, the neural network can be trained such that each of its weights equals one of a discrete number of weight values. Taken together, this enables replacement of the typical multiplication process associated with computing a node of the network with a simple, and much faster, lookup process. In particular, a lookup table can store the result of multiplying each unique pair of activation value and weight value.