Towards Sustainable CNNs: Tensor decompositions for Green AI solutions

Abstract

The ever-increasing complexity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) models has led to environmental challenges due to high computation and energy demands. This thesis explores the application of tensor decomposition methods—CP, Tucker, and TT—to improve the energy efficiency of large Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) during inference by reducing energy consumption. The energy consumption of several convolution layers was measured using a watt meter across various CNN configurations and different hardware architectures (Central Processing Unit(CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)). In addition, several regression models were fitted to estimate energy savings, incorporating memory usage. It was found that TT decomposition consistently provided the most significant energy savings across various compression ratios, influenced by CNN hyperparameters such as input/output channels, feature sizes, and kernel sizes, whereas CP decomposition was the least effective in reducing energy. The GPU implementations generally resulted in additional energy consumption, and the GPU regression models suggested a need for more complex relationships. The thesis also revealed that the efficiency of tensor decompositions might be highly dependent on the implementation details of software libraries, such as TensorlyTorch, which can significantly impact the computation and memory complexities. These findings underscore the importance of both hardware specific considerations and careful software implementation in achieving energy efficient CNNs, providing a foundation for further research in energy-constrained environments.