How Low Can We Go: Trading Memory for Error in Low-Precision Training

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2106.09686v2
• Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2021 04:55:09 GMT
• Title: How Low Can We Go: Trading Memory for Error in Low-Precision Training
• Authors: Chengrun Yang, Ziyang Wu, Jerry Chee, Christopher De Sa, Madeleine Udell
• Abstract summary: Low-precision arithmetic trains deep learning models using less energy, less memory and less time. We pay a price for the savings: lower precision may yield larger round-off error and hence larger prediction error. We borrow ideas from meta-learning to learn the tradeoff between memory and error.
• Score: 52.94003953419242
• License: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
• Abstract: Low-precision arithmetic trains deep learning models using less energy, less memory and less time. However, we pay a price for the savings: lower precision may yield larger round-off error and hence larger prediction error. As applications proliferate, users must choose which precision to use to train a new model, and chip manufacturers must decide which precisions to manufacture. We view these precision choices as a hyperparameter tuning problem, and borrow ideas from meta-learning to learn the tradeoff between memory and error. In this paper, we introduce Pareto Estimation to Pick the Perfect Precision (PEPPP). We use matrix factorization to find non-dominated configurations (the Pareto frontier) with a limited number of network evaluations. For any given memory budget, the precision that minimizes error is a point on this frontier. Practitioners can use the frontier to trade memory for error and choose the best precision for their goals.

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