大模型训练中早期错误会固化,导致长期性能下降。
How Large Language Models Get Stuck: Early structure with persistent errors
- 通过分析语法错误模式,发现模型在训练初期就可能形成顽固错误偏好。
- 近三分之一的语法测试中,模型始终无法正确区分合乎语法与不合语法的句子。
- 提出'二元组假说',解释早期统计偏差如何导致错误固化,适合关注模型训练机制的研究者。
我们基于1亿词的BabyLM数据集训练Meta的OPT模型,并在包含67类句对差异的BLiMP基准上评估其表现,每类由特定句法或语义规则违规定义。结果显示,在近三分之一的BLiMP类别中,即使经过充分训练,OPT仍无法持续赋予合语法句子更高的概率。当失败时,模型常在处理早期就建立清晰的(错误的)概率差异,并持续到训练结束。我们推测这种误分类代价高昂,因为它产生根深蒂固的偏见,需后期逆转才能改善性能。结合语言学理论与深度学习理论进行定性分析,以及数值测试进行定量评估。结果表明,仅部分BLiMP测试具有指导意义。最后提出'二元组假说':若早期二元组统计使模型偏向错误区分,则学习过程会出现错误固化现象,并给出在特定BLiMP类别中验证该假说的方法。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Linguistic insights may help make Large Language Model (LLM) training more efficient. We trained Meta's OPT model on the 100M word BabyLM dataset, and evaluated it on the BLiMP benchmark, which consists of 67 classes, each defined by sentence pairs that differ in a targeted syntactic or semantic rule violation. We tested the model's preference for grammatical over ungrammatical sentences across training iterations and grammatical types. In nearly one-third of the BLiMP classes, OPT fails to consistently assign a higher likelihood to grammatical sentences, even after extensive training. When it fails, it often establishes a clear (erroneous) separation of the likelihoods at an early stage of processing and sustains this to the end of our training phase. We hypothesize that this mis-categorization is costly because it creates entrenched biases that must, eventually, be reversed in order for the model to perform well. We probe this phenomenon using a mixture of qualitative (based on linguistic theory and the theory of Deep Learning) and quantitative (based on numerical testing) assessments. Our qualitative assessments indicate that only some BLiMP tests are meaningful guides. We conclude by articulating a hypothesis, the Bigram Hypothesis, which claims that the learning process will exhibit erroneous entrenchment if bigram statistics bias the model toward wrong distinctions early in training, and we describe a method of testing the hypothesis on appropriately selected BLiMP classes.
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