Training robust models using Random Projection

Regularization plays an important role in machine learning systems. We propose a novel methodology for model regularization using random projection. We demonstrate the technique on neural networks, since such models usually comprise a very large number of parameters, calling for strong regularizers. It has been shown recently that neural networks are sensitive to two kinds of samples: (i) adversarial samples, which are generated by imperceptible perturbations of previously correctly-classified samples—yet the network will misclassify them; and (ii) fooling samples, which are completely unrecognizable, yet the network will classify them with extremely high confidence. In this paper, we show how robust neural networks can be trained using random projection. We show that while random projection acts as a strong regularizer, boosting model accuracy similar to other regularizers, such as weight decay and dropout, it is far more robust to adversarial noise and fooling samples. We further show that random projection also helps to improve the robustness of traditional classifiers, such as Random Forrest and Gradient Boosting Machines.