SwiftNet: A Cost-Efficient Deep Learning Framework With Diverse Applications

Driven by the pursuit of enhanced performance, deep learning has recently seen rapid developments in the scaling of network architectures and parameters. However, this advancement has led to extremely high computational costs, undesirable in real-time and resource-limited scenarios. To address these challenges, we propose SwiftNet, a cost-efficient deep learning framework. Our novelty lies in SwiftNet's innovative multidimensional early-exit strategy that integrates seamlessly with existing neural network architectures. The framework includes additional branch classifiers concatenated to the backbone network, allowing high-confidence samples to exit early, thereby, reducing computational load. Unlike traditional methods, SwiftNet dynamically assesses confidence levels, ensuring only low-confidence samples proceed to subsequent classifiers or the final layer, optimizing resource usage without compromising accuracy. We have validated SwiftNet on multiple neural network models and datasets, demonstrating its ability to significantly reduce the computational cost of models while maintaining neural network performance.