This paper introduces new parameterizations of equilibrium neural networks,
i.e. networks defined by implicit equations. This model class includes standard
multilayer and residual networks as special cases. The new parameterization
admits a Lipschitz bound during training via unconstrained optimization: no
projections or barrier functions are required. Lipschitz bounds are a common
proxy for robustness and appear in many generalization bounds. Furthermore,
compared to previous works we show well-posedness (existence of solutions)
under less restrictive conditions on the network weights and more natural
assumptions on the activation functions: that they are monotone and slope
restricted. These results are proved by establishing novel connections with
convex optimization, operator splitting on non-Euclidean spaces, and
contracting neural ODEs. In image classification experiments we show that the
Lipschitz bounds are very accurate and improve robustness to adversarial
attacks.