Improved artificial neural networks based whale optimization algorithm

Owing to the increasing interest in artificial neural networks (ANNs) across various fields of study, many studies have focused on enhancing their performance through the utilisation of different learning algorithms. This study examines the use of the Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) as a training algorithm to improve the classification accuracy of ANNs. To achieve a high level of classification accuracy with ANN models, it is imperative to ensure that the model is appropriately designed in terms of the employed structure, training algorithm and activation function. In this work, WOA was adopted to train ANN models using 10 well-known datasets sourced from the UCI machine learning repository. The classification accuracy of a WOA-trained ANN was compared with that of a backpropagation-trained ANN, and the results showed that the WOA-trained ANN exhibited superior performance.