Recent works on sparse neural networks have demonstrated that it is possible to train a sparse network in isolation to match the performance of the corresponding dense networks with a fraction of parameters. However, the identification of these performant sparse neural networks (winning tickets) either involves a costly iterative train-prune-retrain process (e.g., Lottery Ticket Hypothesis) or an over-extended sparse training time (e.g., Training with Dynamic Sparsity), both of which would raise financial and environmental concerns. In this work, we attempt to address this cost-reducing problem by introducing the FreeTickets concept, as the first solution which can boost the performance of sparse convolutional neural networks over their dense network equivalents by a large margin, while using for complete training only a fraction of the computational resources required by the latter. Concretely, we instantiate the FreeTickets concept, by proposing two novel efficient ensemble methods with dynamic sparsity, which yield in one shot many diverse and accurate tickets for free during the sparse training process. The combination of these free tickets into an ensemble demonstrates a significant improvement in accuracy, uncertainty estimation, robustness, and efficiency over the corresponding dense (ensemble) networks. Our results provide new insights into the strength of sparse neural networks and suggest that the benefits of sparsity go way beyond the usual training/inference expected efficiency. We will release all codes in https://github.com/Shiweiliuiiiiiii/FreeTickets.
Download