arXiv:2506.20790cs.LGcs.AI2025-06被引 14

提出可扩展的参数分解方法,让大模型机制可解释性研究成为可能。

Stochastic Parameter Decomposition

  • 基于随机采样实现高效参数分解,克服传统方法计算开销大问题。
  • 在更大更复杂的模型上成功分解,且避免参数收缩等偏差。
  • 适合关注模型内部机制、可解释性研究的研究者使用。

神经网络逆向工程的关键步骤是将其分解为可独立研究的简单部分。线性参数分解框架通过将网络参数表示为稀疏使用向量之和,解决了现有分解方法的部分问题。然而,当前主流方法——基于归因的参数分解(APD)存在计算成本高、对超参数敏感等缺陷。本文提出随机参数分解(SPD),该方法在可扩展性和对超参数鲁棒性方面优于APD,成功实现了比以往更大型、更复杂模型的分解。实验表明,SPD能有效避免参数缩放问题,并在简化模型中更准确识别真实机制。通过连接因果中介分析与网络分解方法,SPD为机制可解释性研究打开了新路径,突破了线性参数分解在大模型上的应用瓶颈。代码库已开源:https://github.com/goodfire-ai/spd/tree/spd-paper。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

A key step in reverse engineering neural networks is to decompose them into simpler parts that can be studied in relative isolation. Linear parameter decomposition -- a framework that has been proposed to resolve several issues with current decomposition methods -- decomposes neural network parameters into a sum of sparsely used vectors in parameter space. However, the current main method in this framework, Attribution-based Parameter Decomposition (APD), is impractical on account of its computational cost and sensitivity to hyperparameters. In this work, we introduce \textit{Stochastic Parameter Decomposition} (SPD), a method that is more scalable and robust to hyperparameters than APD, which we demonstrate by decomposing models that are slightly larger and more complex than was possible to decompose with APD. We also show that SPD avoids other issues, such as shrinkage of the learned parameters, and better identifies ground truth mechanisms in toy models. By bridging causal mediation analysis and network decomposition methods, this demonstration opens up new research possibilities in mechanistic interpretability by removing barriers to scaling linear parameter decomposition methods to larger models. We release a library for running SPD and reproducing our experiments at https://github.com/goodfire-ai/spd/tree/spd-paper.

可解释性参数分解神经网络

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