Enforcing Hard Linear Constraints in Deep Learning Models with Decision Rules

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Constante-Flores, Gonzalo E., Chen, Hao, Li, Can
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866909921908359168
author Constante-Flores, Gonzalo E.
Chen, Hao
Li, Can
author_facet Constante-Flores, Gonzalo E.
Chen, Hao
Li, Can
contents Deep learning models are increasingly deployed in safety-critical tasks where predictions must satisfy hard constraints, such as physical laws, fairness requirements, or safety limits. However, standard architectures lack built-in mechanisms to enforce such constraints, and existing approaches based on regularization or projection are often limited to simple constraints, computationally expensive, or lack feasibility guarantees. This paper proposes a model-agnostic framework for enforcing input-dependent linear equality and inequality constraints on neural network outputs. The architecture combines a task network trained for prediction accuracy with a safe network trained using decision rules from the stochastic and robust optimization literature to ensure feasibility across the entire input space. The final prediction is a convex combination of the two subnetworks, guaranteeing constraint satisfaction during both training and inference without iterative procedures or runtime optimization. We prove that the architecture is a universal approximator of constrained functions and derive computationally tractable formulations based on linear decision rules. Empirical results on benchmark regression tasks show that our method consistently satisfies constraints while maintaining competitive accuracy and low inference latency.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_13858
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enforcing Hard Linear Constraints in Deep Learning Models with Decision Rules
Constante-Flores, Gonzalo E.
Chen, Hao
Li, Can
Machine Learning
Deep learning models are increasingly deployed in safety-critical tasks where predictions must satisfy hard constraints, such as physical laws, fairness requirements, or safety limits. However, standard architectures lack built-in mechanisms to enforce such constraints, and existing approaches based on regularization or projection are often limited to simple constraints, computationally expensive, or lack feasibility guarantees. This paper proposes a model-agnostic framework for enforcing input-dependent linear equality and inequality constraints on neural network outputs. The architecture combines a task network trained for prediction accuracy with a safe network trained using decision rules from the stochastic and robust optimization literature to ensure feasibility across the entire input space. The final prediction is a convex combination of the two subnetworks, guaranteeing constraint satisfaction during both training and inference without iterative procedures or runtime optimization. We prove that the architecture is a universal approximator of constrained functions and derive computationally tractable formulations based on linear decision rules. Empirical results on benchmark regression tasks show that our method consistently satisfies constraints while maintaining competitive accuracy and low inference latency.
title Enforcing Hard Linear Constraints in Deep Learning Models with Decision Rules
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.13858