US Patent 11681922 Performing inference and training using sparse neural network

An inference system trains and performs inference using a sparse neural network. The sparse neural network may include one or more layers, and each layer may be associated with a set of sparse weights that represent sparse connections between nodes of a layer and nodes of a previous layer. A layer output may be generated by applying the set of sparse weights associated with the layer to the layer output of a previous layer. Moreover, the one or more layers of the sparse neural network may generate sparse layer outputs. By using sparse representations of weights and layer outputs, robustness and stability of the neural network can be significantly improved, while maintaining competitive accuracy.