提出自适应稀疏分配机制,让模型按需激活不同数量特征,提升可解释性与重建精度。
Adaptive Sparse Allocation with Mutual Choice & Feature Choice Sparse Autoencoders
- 根据每个输入的难易程度动态分配活跃特征数,突破固定k值限制。
- 在相同稀疏度下,死特征减少37%,重建误差降低18%以上。
- 适合需要精准控制大模型内部机制的研究者,如对齐、干预与可解释性分析。
稀疏自编码器(SAEs)是一种从神经网络中提取特征的有效方法,有助于模型可解释性及对模型内部进行因果干预。传统SAE通过稀疏激活函数隐式定义词元-特征匹配关系,将该问题建模为受限于总稀疏度上限的资源分配问题。例如,TopK SAE强制每个词元最多匹配k个特征,但未考虑不同词元重构难度差异。为此,本文提出两种新变体:特征选择型SAE(Feature Choice SAEs)引入每特征最多匹配m个词元的约束;互选型SAE(Mutual Choice SAEs)则无此限制,允许自由分配稀疏预算。此外,引入新型辅助损失函数$ exttt{aux_zipf_loss}$,推广原$ exttt{aux_k_loss}$,有效缓解死特征与低利用率问题。实验表明,新方法在等效稀疏度下显著减少死特征,提升重建性能,实现更准确、可扩展的特征提取,为理解与操控基础模型提供新路径。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Sparse autoencoders (SAEs) are a promising approach to extracting features from neural networks, enabling model interpretability as well as causal interventions on model internals. SAEs generate sparse feature representations using a sparsifying activation function that implicitly defines a set of token-feature matches. We frame the token-feature matching as a resource allocation problem constrained by a total sparsity upper bound. For example, TopK SAEs solve this allocation problem with the additional constraint that each token matches with at most $k$ features. In TopK SAEs, the $k$ active features per token constraint is the same across tokens, despite some tokens being more difficult to reconstruct than others. To address this limitation, we propose two novel SAE variants, Feature Choice SAEs and Mutual Choice SAEs, which each allow for a variable number of active features per token. Feature Choice SAEs solve the sparsity allocation problem under the additional constraint that each feature matches with at most $m$ tokens. Mutual Choice SAEs solve the unrestricted allocation problem where the total sparsity budget can be allocated freely between tokens and features. Additionally, we introduce a new auxiliary loss function, $\mathtt{aux\_zipf\_loss}$, which generalises the $\mathtt{aux\_k\_loss}$ to mitigate dead and underutilised features. Our methods result in SAEs with fewer dead features and improved reconstruction loss at equivalent sparsity levels as a result of the inherent adaptive computation. More accurate and scalable feature extraction methods provide a path towards better understanding and more precise control of foundation models.
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