用扩散模型解决大模型量化中权重取整的歧义问题,提升低比特精度。
ReRound: Reconstructive Rounding to Resolve Midpoint Ambiguity in Calibration-Free LLM Quantization

- 用条件扩散模型重建低比特权重,指导靠近区间的权重取整方向。
- 3~4比特量化下性能超越标准方法,且不依赖校准数据。
- 适合小规模语言模型,可直接部署,推理无额外开销。
ReRound(重构取整)是一种后训练量化方法,旨在解决标准四舍五入(RTN)在量化接近量化区间中点的权重时存在的歧义问题。该方法基于预训练的大语言模型,训练一个条件扩散模型以生成低比特权重的连续重建版本,作为权重取向的引导信号。为融合此重建引导与传统RTN,ReRound引入容忍度度量:在中点附近的量化权重使用扩散重建结果进行取整,而靠近边界者仍采用RTN。通过调节容忍度参数,生成多个候选量化权重矩阵,并选择其首项奇异值最接近原始全精度权重的方案,从而确定最终容忍度。在多种小型大模型上,该方法在3比特和4比特量化下持续优于标准RTN,表现优于大量无校准方法,且媲美有校准方法,整个过程离线完成,推理阶段无额外开销。该策略适用于更广泛的AI模型,本文聚焦于小型语言模型的应用。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
ReRound (Reconstructive Rounding) is a post-training quantization method that addresses the midpoint ambiguity inherent in standard round-to-nearest (RTN) schemes when quantizing weights near the centers of quantization intervals. Starting from a pretrained LLM, ReRound trains a conditional diffusion model to produce continuous reconstructions of low-bit weights for the LLM. These reconstructed weights act as a guidance signal to disambiguate the rounding direction of weights located close to interval midpoints. To integrate this reconstruction-guided rounding with conventional RTN, ReRound introduces a tolerance metric measuring how far the quantized weight (not the final quantized integer) is away from the midpoint: quantized weights within a tolerance region around midpoints are quantized using diffusion-based reconstructions, whereas weights closer to quantization boundaries are quantized with RTN. By sweeping the tolerance parameter, ReRound generates multiple candidate quantized integer weight matrices and selects the de-quantized weight matrix candidate whose leading singular values most closely match those of the original full-precision weights. This selected candidate determines the tolerance parameter ReRound uses. ReRound is particularly effective for smaller LLMs. Across a range of such models, it consistently outperforms standard RTN for 3-bit and 4-bit weight quantization. ReRound achieves superior accuracy compared to an extensive set of calibration-free methods, remains competitive with calibration-dependent approaches, and operates entirely offline, introducing no additional overhead during low-bit inference. The ReRound strategy represents a new approach for low-bit quantization. The method applies to AI models beyond LLMs. This paper focuses on its applications to small LLMs.
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