增量训练大模型看似省资源,实则更耗时,效果不如传统方法。
On the Effectiveness of Incremental Training of Large Language Models
- 分阶段逐步增加网络层数,尝试优化训练效率
- 最终需更多计算量才能达到传统训练的性能水平
- 适合研究训练策略局限性的人参考
大语言模型的训练成本高昂,层间渐进式训练被提出作为优化手段,旨在通过逐层添加网络结构实现更快收敛和更高资源利用率。本文将训练过程划分为多个阶段,逐步引入层数进行实验。结果表明,尽管初期该方法展现一定计算效率,但要达到与传统全规模训练相当的性能,仍需显著延长持续训练时间,整体计算开销更大。虽然性能差距可被弥补,但代价高昂。这说明增量层训练并非大模型训练的可行替代方案,揭示了其内在局限性,为理解训练效率问题提供了重要洞见。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Training large language models is a computationally intensive process that often requires substantial resources to achieve state-of-the-art results. Incremental layer-wise training has been proposed as a potential strategy to optimize the training process by progressively introducing layers, with the expectation that this approach would lead to faster convergence and more efficient use of computational resources. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of incremental training for LLMs, dividing the training process into multiple stages where layers are added progressively. Our experimental results indicate that while the incremental approach initially demonstrates some computational efficiency, it ultimately requires greater overall computational costs to reach comparable performance to traditional full-scale training. Although the incremental training process can eventually close the performance gap with the baseline, it does so only after significantly extended continual training. These findings suggest that incremental layer-wise training may not be a viable alternative for training large language models, highlighting its limitations and providing valuable insights into the inefficiencies of this approach.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。