Abstract: Hierarchical structured sparse parameter pruning and processing improves runtime performance and energy efficiency of neural networks. In contrast with conventional (non-structured) pruning which allows for any distribution of the non-zero values within a matrix that achieves the desired sparsity degree (e.g., 50%) and is consequently difficult to accelerate, structured hierarchical sparsity requires each multi-element unit at the coarsest granularity of the hierarchy to be pruned to the desired sparsity degree. The global desired sparsity degree is a function of the per-level sparsity degrees. Distribution of non-zero values within each multi-element unit is constrained according to the per-level sparsity degree at the particular level of the hierarchy. Each level of the hierarchy may be associated with a hardware (e.g., logic or circuit) structure that can be enabled or disabled according to the per-level sparsity.

Abstract: One embodiment of a method includes determining, by a Bayesian optimizer, a first sparsity ratio associated with a limit on an accuracy loss caused by compressing the machine learning model. The method further includes selecting, by the Bayesian optimizer, a second sparsity ratio that optimizes a predefined objective function for the machine learning model within a search space bounded by the first sparsity ratio. The method further includes generating a compressed version of the machine learning model having the second sparsity ratio.