Papers › Principled Weight Initialisation for Input-Convex Neural Networks

Principled Weight Initialisation for Input-Convex Neural Networks

19 Dec 2023NeurIPS 2023 11arXiv:2312.12474archive 2025-07-28

Pieter-Jan Hoedt, Günter Klambauer

Input-Convex Neural Networks (ICNNs) are networks that guarantee convexity in their input-output mapping. These networks have been successfully applied for energy-based modelling, optimal transport problems and learning invariances. The convexity of ICNNs is achieved by using non-decreasing convex activation functions and non-negative weights. Because of these peculiarities, previous initialisation strategies, which implicitly assume centred weights, are not effective for ICNNs. By studying signal propagation through layers with non-negative weights, we are able to derive a principled weight initialisation for ICNNs. Concretely, we generalise signal propagation theory by removing the assumption that weights are sampled from a centred distribution. In a set of experiments, we demonstrate that our principled initialisation effectively accelerates learning in ICNNs and leads to better generalisation. Moreover, we find that, in contrast to common belief, ICNNs can be trained without skip-connections when initialised correctly. Finally, we apply ICNNs to a real-world drug discovery task and show that they allow for more effective molecular latent space exploration.

PaperPDFConference PDFCodeCode Syntology ran

In Syntology Open this paper in Syntology's Atlas, the map of the papers in Syntology's graph and their citations.

For agents, Syntology's MCP tool lists every function and class Syntology harvested from this paper and whether it ran (how to connect): get_harvested_code_for_paper(arxiv_id="2312.12474")

Code

Syntology Ran 2 of 2 code samples harvested from 1 repository linked to this paper; 0 have no recorded run. Of those that ran: 1 ran · fixture could not drive it; 1 ran with no contract checked.

By repository: official repository: 2 samples from 1 repository, 2 ran. The run record, sample by sample. “Ran” means executed on a synthesized input, not that the code is correct or reproduces the paper.

ml-jku/convex-init officialmentioned in paperpytorch report

Repository list and official/mentioned flags are the archive's, frozen 2025-07-28. Reachability, where shown, is from one Syntology probe window (2026-09-16 to 2026-09-18); repositories not probed show nothing. GitHub stars are not tracked.

Code Syntology ran Syntology

2 samples harvested; 2 ran; 0 honoured the contract we drafted; 0 have no recorded run. Read from Syntology's graph 2026-09-24; that is when this build read the record, not when the samples ran.

1ran · fixture could not drive it
1ran

Licence: 0 of the 2 samples are pointer only, meaning Syntology does not serve that copy's text. This page shows no code text for any sample; each one links to its file in the repository.

Harvested from ml-jku/convex-init. “Ran” means the sample executed on a synthesized input. It does not mean the output is correct, and nothing here reproduces the paper's results. “Honoured” and “violated” refer to a contract Syntology drafted from the code itself; “our draft was wrong” and “fixture could not drive it” are failures of Syntology's instrument, not of the code.

Each sample ends with its code_sha256, Syntology's identity for that exact code. An agent fetches the stored sample with Syntology's MCP tool get_code(code_sha256="…") (how to connect); click an identity to copy that call.

Repository labels, per sample. official repository: The archive marks this repository official for the paper. named in the paper: The archive records that the paper mentions this repository; it is not marked official. community (archive-listed): In the archive's code links for this paper, not marked official and not recorded as mentioned in the paper. found in paper text by Syntology: Syntology found this repository in the paper's own text; whether it is the authors' implementation is not asserted. community: Not in the archive's code links for this paper; a community repository Syntology harvested. Samples from a repository marked official are listed first. Licence labels name the repository's licence as recorded at harvest. “Pointer only” means Syntology does not serve that copy's text, for one of four reasons: no licence file was found; the licence was not identified; the licence is recorded as permissive but that copy's record is not marked cleared; or the licence is outside the permissive list Syntology serves text under (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD and similar). Some licences outside that list permit redistribution, such as WTFPL, and GPL-3.0 under its conditions; they are simply not on the list. Hover a licence label for the reason. File links open the file on GitHub at the default branch, which may have changed since the harvest.

ConvexInitialiser ml-jku/convex-init/convex_init.py official repository ran fingerprinted MIT (permissive) · 9fc636a065325cf1 · report
signal_propagation ml-jku/convex-init/trainer.py official repository ran · fixture could not drive it MIT (permissive) · cd9df777df3b2f52 · report

Tasks

Drug Discovery

Results from the paper archive 2025-07-28

No leaderboard rows for this paper in the archive.

Methods

SET

Report a problem or propose a change · a person checks every report against the paper or source before anything changes; decisions are listed on /corrections