System and method for hardware-aware pruning of conformer networks

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of:
• training a neural network, the training comprising:
• performing a first pruning operation, on the neural network, after a first training epoch, and
• performing a second pruning operation, on the neural network, after a second training epoch and after the first pruning operation,
• wherein each of the pruning operations results in a respective pruning fraction, the respective pruning fraction being a function of an index of a training epoch preceding the pruning operation.

A system comprising:

• means for processing;
• and
• a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the means for processing, cause performance of:
• training a neural network, the training comprising:
• performing a first pruning operation, on the neural network, after a first training epoch, and
• performing a second pruning operation, on the neural network, after a second training epoch and after the first pruning operation,
• wherein each of the pruning operations results in a respective pruning fraction, the respective pruning fraction being a function of an index of a training epoch preceding the pruning operation.