In this paper, a new hybrid YUKI-ANN is implemented for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of laminated composite plates. A finite element model is constructed and used to identify damage at five randomly selected elements in a laminated composite plate. The process of damage identification is divided into two main steps, namely damage localization and quantification. During the localization step, damaged elements are identified using a damage indicator based on Modal Strain Energy change ratio (MSEcr). After excluding the healthy elements, the level of damage is predicted using ANN modified with four optimization algorithms: Arithmetic Optimizing Algorithm (AOA), Balancing Composite Motion Optimization (BCMO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and YUKI algorithm. The performance of these optimization algorithms is evaluated, and it is found that the YUKI algorithm (YA) outperforms AOA, BCMO, and PSO algorithms without exception. YA gives better predictions with lower errors when compared to PSO and BCMO algorithms with equivalent computational time. In some cases, AOA provides slightly better predictions than YA, but the computational time for these predictions is eight times more that of YA. If both performance and efficiency are considered, YA seems to be the best choice. Find the MATLAB code for YUKI-ANN at https://github.com/Brahim-Benaissa/YUKI_ANN.