语言模型幻觉无法完全消除,但可通过提升数据质量使其概率趋近于零。
Hallucinations are inevitable but can be made statistically negligible
- 从概率视角证明:充分高质量训练数据可使幻觉概率极小
- 在真实场景中,幻觉发生概率可被显著降低至可忽略水平
- 适合关注大模型可信性与实用部署的研究者阅读
语言模型生成非事实内容的幻觉现象严重制约其实际应用。尽管已有大量方法试图缓解此问题,但近期研究通过计算理论证明:任何语言模型在无限输入集上必然产生幻觉,无论训练数据质量、数量或模型架构如何。本文指出,这种理论上“必然”的结论难以解释实际问题。我们从概率角度提出正向理论结果:当训练数据足够优质和充足时,幻觉可被制作为统计上可忽略。该结果与计算理论结论并存——即无限输入下幻觉无法完全消除,但其发生概率可通过改进算法与数据持续降低。通过信息论视角分析,我们认为概率性正向结果更契合实际需求。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Hallucinations, a phenomenon where a language model (LM) generates nonfactual content, pose a significant challenge to the practical deployment of LMs. While many empirical methods have been proposed to mitigate hallucinations, recent studies established a computability-theoretic result showing that any LM will inevitably generate hallucinations on an infinite set of inputs, regardless of the quality and quantity of training datasets and the choice of the language model architecture and training and inference algorithms. Although the computability-theoretic result may seem pessimistic, its significance in practical viewpoints has remained unclear. This paper claims that those "innate" inevitability results from computability theory and diagonal argument, in principle, cannot explain practical issues of LLMs. We demonstrate this claim by presenting a positive theoretical result from a probabilistic perspective. Specifically, we prove that hallucinations can be made statistically negligible, provided that the quality and quantity of the training data are sufficient. Interestingly, our positive result coexists with the computability-theoretic result, implying that while hallucinations on an infinite set of inputs cannot be entirely eliminated, their probability can always be reduced by improving algorithms and training data. By evaluating the two seemingly contradictory results through the lens of information theory, we argue that our probability-theoretic positive result better reflects practical considerations than the computability-theoretic negative result.
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