发现词嵌入层学习率是超参数迁移的关键,调高它能显著提升训练稳定性与迁移效果。
Quantifying Hyperparameter Transfer and the Importance of Embedding Layer Learning Rate

- 通过三类指标量化超参数迁移质量,评估不同参数化方式的性能。
- 在AdamW优化下,$μ$P相比标准参数化提升训练稳定性,主要因嵌入层学习率更高。
- 权重衰减虽改善缩放定律拟合,但在固定参数量每令牌时降低外推鲁棒性。
超参数迁移使小规模训练中获得的最优优化超参数可推广至大规模语言模型训练,至关重要。现有方法依赖缩放定律拟合或如最大更新($μ$P)等参数化策略以实现近似尺度不变的最优超参数。本文首先构建框架,通过三项指标量化超参数迁移:(1) 缩放定律拟合质量,(2) 外推误差鲁棒性,(3) 参数化选择导致的渐近损失惩罚。随后,通过全面消融实验揭示$μ$P相较于标准参数化(SP)在学习率迁移上表现优异的原因。研究发现,在使用AdamW优化时,$μ$P的优势主要源于最大化嵌入层学习率;而标准参数化中该学习率过低,成为瓶颈并引发训练不稳定。将嵌入层学习率提高至与模型宽度成比例后,训练过程显著平滑,且超参数迁移性能大幅提升。此外,权重衰减有助于改善缩放定律拟合,但在固定‘每参数令牌数’设定下会削弱外推鲁棒性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Hyperparameter transfer allows extrapolating optimal optimization hyperparameters from small to large scales, making it critical for training large language models (LLMs). This is done either by fitting a scaling law to the hyperparameters or by a judicious choice of parameterization, such as Maximal Update ($μ$P), that renders optimal hyperparameters approximately scale invariant. In this paper, we first develop a framework to quantify hyperparameter transfer through three metrics: (1) the quality of the scaling law fit, (2) the robustness to extrapolation errors, and (3) the asymptotic loss penalty due to choice of parameterization. Next, we investigate through a comprehensive series of ablations why $μ$P appears to offer high-quality learning rate transfer relative to standard parameterization (SP), as existing theory is inadequate. We find that the overwhelming benefit of $μ$P relative to SP when training with AdamW arises simply from maximizing the learning rate of the embedding layer. In SP, the embedding layer learning rate acts as a bottleneck that induces training instabilities; increasing it by a factor of width to match $μ$P dramatically smooths out training while improving hyperparameter transfer. We also find that weight decay improves the scaling law fits, while, in the fixed token-per-parameter setting, it hurts the robustness of the extrapolation.
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