模型爱用破折号,根源是训练时学了太多Markdown格式。
The Last Fingerprint: How Markdown Training Shapes LLM Prose
- 破折号是模型从Markdown训练中残留的结构痕迹,非随意使用。
- 12个模型中,除Llama外均在禁用Markdown后仍保留大量破折号,最多达每千字9.1个。
- 该现象可作细调方法的诊断指标,适合研究模型训练机制的学者参考。
大型语言模型生成破折号的频率不一,部分模型‘过度使用’破折号已成为识别AI文本的常见标志。然而,这一现象尚无机制解释,且模型默认输出Markdown格式的观察也未被关联。本文提出,破折号是Markdown格式渗入散文的最小残留单位——即模型从高度含Markdown的训练数据中内化结构化的结果。我们构建了五个步骤的演化路径:训练数据构成 → 结构内化 → 破折号的双重角色(结构与标点)→ 训练后放大。通过跨五家厂商(Anthropic、OpenAI、Meta、Google、DeepSeek)12个模型的双条件抑制实验验证:当要求避免Markdown格式时,标题、列表、加粗等显性特征几乎消失,但破折号仍持续存在——除Meta的Llama系列外,其破折号频率为0.0/1,000词;其余模型最高达9.1/1,000词(GPT-4.1在抑制条件下)。三阶段抑制梯度实验显示,即使明确禁止破折号,部分模型仍无法消除。基础模型与指令微调模型对比证实,该倾向存在于强化学习前。研究连接两个孤立的网络讨论,将破折号频率重新定义为微调方法的诊断信号,而非风格缺陷。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Large language models produce em dashes at varying rates, and the observation that some models "overuse" them has become one of the most widely discussed markers of AI-generated text. Yet no mechanistic account of this pattern exists, and the parallel observation that LLMs default to markdown-formatted output has never been connected to it. We propose that the em dash is markdown leaking into prose -- the smallest surviving unit of the structural orientation that LLMs acquire from markdown-saturated training corpora. We present a five-step genealogy connecting training data composition, structural internalization, the dual-register status of the em dash, and post-training amplification. We test this with a two-condition suppression experiment across twelve models from five providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, Google, DeepSeek): when models are instructed to avoid markdown formatting, overt features (headers, bullets, bold) are eliminated or nearly eliminated, but em dashes persist -- except in Meta's Llama models, which produce none at all. Em dash frequency and suppression resistance vary from 0.0 per 1,000 words (Llama) to 9.1 (GPT-4.1 under suppression), functioning as a signature of the specific fine-tuning procedure applied. A three-condition suppression gradient shows that even explicit em dash prohibition fails to eliminate the artifact in some models, and a base-vs-instruct comparison confirms that the latent tendency exists pre-RLHF. These findings connect two previously isolated online discourses and reframe em dash frequency as a diagnostic of fine-tuning methodology rather than a stylistic defect.
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。