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  4. Geometry of the Loss Landscape in Overparameterized Neural Networks: Symmetries and Invariances
 
conference paper

Geometry of the Loss Landscape in Overparameterized Neural Networks: Symmetries and Invariances

Şimşek, Berfin
•
Ged, François
•
Jacot, Arthur
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2021
Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Machine Learning
38 th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2021)

We study how permutation symmetries in overparameterized multi-layer neural networks generate `symmetry-induced' critical points. Assuming a network with $ L $ layers of minimal widths $ r_1^, \ldots, r_{L-1}^ $ reaches a zero-loss minimum at $ r_1^! \cdots r_{L-1}^! $ isolated points that are permutations of one another, we show that adding one extra neuron to each layer is sufficient to connect all these previously discrete minima into a single manifold. For a two-layer overparameterized network of width $ r^+ h =: m $ we explicitly describe the manifold of global minima: it consists of $ T(r^, m) $ affine subspaces of dimension at least $ h $ that are connected to one another. For a network of width $m$, we identify the number $G(r,m)$ of affine subspaces containing only symmetry-induced critical points that are related to the critical points of a smaller network of width $r<r^$. Via a combinatorial analysis, we derive closed-form formulas for $ T $ and $ G $ and show that the number of symmetry-induced critical subspaces dominates the number of affine subspaces forming the global minima manifold in the mildly overparameterized regime (small $ h $) and vice versa in the vastly overparameterized regime ($h \gg r^$). Our results provide new insights into the minimization of the non-convex loss function of overparameterized neural networks.

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Type
conference paper
Web of Science ID

WOS:000768182705080

ArXiv ID

2105.12221v2

Author(s)
Şimşek, Berfin
Ged, François
Jacot, Arthur
Spadaro, Francesco
Hongler, Clément
Gerstner, Wulfram  
Brea, Johanni  
Date Issued

2021

Published in
Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Machine Learning
Total of pages

29

Series title/Series vol.

Proceedings of Machine Learning Research; 139

Volume

139

Start page

9722

End page

9732

Subjects

ml-ai

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LCN  
Event nameEvent placeEvent date
38 th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2021)

Virtual

July 18-24, 2021

Available on Infoscience
January 17, 2022
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/184607
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