SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NEURAL NETWORK PRUNING WITH ACCURACY PRESERVATION

Training a neural network (NN) may include training a NN N, and for S, a version of N to be sparsified (e.g. a copy of N), removing NN elements from S to create a sparsified version of S, and training S using outputs from N (e.g. “distillation”). A boosting or reintroduction phase may follow sparsification: training a NN may include for a trained NN N and S, a sparsified version of N, re-introducing NN elements previously removed from S, and training S using outputs from N. The boosting phase need not use a NN sparsified by “distillation.” Training and sparsification, or training and reintroduction, may be performed iteratively or over repetitions.