# Quantum-Inspired Analysis of Neural Network Vulnerabilities: The Role of Conjugate Variables in System Attacks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.10983 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10983/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 31 of its 52 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 16 Feb 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 31)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Explaining and Harnessing Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6572/) (2014)
- [Towards Deep Learning Models Resistant to Adversarial Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.06083/) (2017)
- [Intriguing properties of neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6199/) (2013)
- [Adversarial examples in the physical world](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.02533/) (2016)
- [Theoretically Principled Trade-off between Robustness and Accuracy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.08573/) (2019)
- [Mastering Atari, Go, Chess and Shogi by Planning with a Learned Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.08265/) (2019)
- [Certified Adversarial Robustness via Randomized Smoothing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.02918/) (2019)
- [DeepFool: a simple and accurate method to fool deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.04599/) (2015)
- [Robustness May Be at Odds with Accuracy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.12152/) (2018)
- [The Limitations of Deep Learning in Adversarial Settings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.07528/) (2015)
- [Square Attack: a query-efficient black-box adversarial attack via random search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.00049/) (2019)
- [One pixel attack for fooling deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.08864/) (2017)
- [Adversarial Examples for Evaluating Reading Comprehension Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.07328/) (2017)
- [Jailbreaking ChatGPT via Prompt Engineering: An Empirical Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.13860/) (2023)
- [Audio Adversarial Examples: Targeted Attacks on Speech-to-Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.01944/) (2018)
- [On instabilities of deep learning in image reconstruction - Does AI come at a cost?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.05300/) (2019)
- [Survey of Vulnerabilities in Large Language Models Revealed by Adversarial Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10844/) (2023)
- [Randomized Smoothing of All Shapes and Sizes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.08118/) (2020)
- [Is Robustness the Cost of Accuracy? -- A Comprehensive Study on the Robustness of 18 Deep Image Classification Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.01688/) (2018)
- [Globally-Robust Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.08452/) (2021)
- [On the importance of single directions for generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.06959/) (2018)
- [SparseFool: a few pixels make a big difference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.02248/) (2018)
- [A Survey On Universal Adversarial Attack](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.01498/) (2021)
- [Can stable and accurate neural networks be computed? -- On the barriers of deep learning and Smale's 18th problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.08286/) (2021)
- [Robustness May Be at Odds with Fairness: An Empirical Study on Class-wise Accuracy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.13365/) (2020)
- [A Little Robustness Goes a Long Way: Leveraging Robust Features for Targeted Transfer Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02105/) (2021)
- [GSmooth: Certified Robustness against Semantic Transformations via Generalized Randomized Smoothing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.04310/) (2022)
- [GenPhys: From Physical Processes to Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02637/) (2023)
- [Are Accuracy and Robustness Correlated?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.04563/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [GNN-Empowered Effective Partial Observation MARL Method for AoI Management in Multi-UAV Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00036/) (2024)
- [Phase-space entropy at acquisition reflects downstream learnability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.19223/) (2025)
- [A Geometric Probe of the Accuracy-Robustness Trade-off: Sharp Boundaries in Symmetry-Breaking Dimensional Expansion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.17948/) (2026)
- [Hardware-Friendly Input Expansion for Accelerating Function Approximation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.17952/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Neural networks demonstrate inherent vulnerability to small, non-random perturbations, emerging as adversarial attacks. Such attacks, born from the gradient of the loss function relative to the input, are discerned as input conjugates, revealing a systemic fragility within the network structure. Intriguingly, a mathematical congruence manifests between this mechanism and the quantum physics' uncertainty principle, casting light on a hitherto unanticipated interdisciplinarity. This inherent susceptibility within neural network systems is generally intrinsic, highlighting not only the innate vulnerability of these networks but also suggesting potential advancements in the interdisciplinary area for understanding these black-box networks.