Swarm-Based Nature-Inspired Metaheuristics for Neural Network Optimization

Abstract

Nature-inspired algorithms have been productively applied to train neural network architectures. There exist other mechanisms like gradient descent, second order methods, Levenberg-Marquardt methods etc. to optimize the parameters of neural networks. Compared to gradient-based methods, nature-inspired algorithms are found to be less sensitive towards the initial weights set and also it is less likely to become trapped in local optima. Despite these benefits, some nature-inspired algorithms also suffer from stagnation when applied to neural networks. The other challenge when applying nature inspired techniques for neural networks would be in handling large dimensional and correlated weight space. Hence, there arises a need for scalable nature inspired algorithms for high dimensional neural network optimization. In this chapter, the characteristics of nature inspired techniques towards optimizing neural network architectures along with its applicability, advantages and limitations/challenges are studied.