Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) have attracted widespread interest and have rich applications. However, the inherent attention mechanism in its Transformer structure requires quadratic complexity and results in expensive computational overhead. Therefore, in this work, we propose VL-Mamba, a multimodal large language model based on state space models, which have been shown to have great potential for long-sequence modeling with fast inference and linear scaling in sequence length. Specifically, we first replace the transformer-based backbone language model such as LLama or Vicuna with the pre-trained Mamba language model. Then, we empirically explore how to effectively apply the 2D vision selective scan mechanism for multimodal learning and the combinations of different vision encoders and variants of pretrained Mamba language models. The extensive experiments on diverse multimodal benchmarks with competitive performance show the effectiveness of our proposed VL-Mamba and demonstrate the great potential of applying state space models for multimodal learning tasks.
Advancements in model algorithms, the growth of foundational models, and access to high-quality datasets have propelled the evolution of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC). Despite its notable successes, AIGC still faces hurdles such as updating knowledge, handling long-tail data, mitigating data leakage, and managing high training and inference costs. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has recently emerged as a paradigm to address such challenges. In particular, RAG introduces the information retrieval process, which enhances the generation process by retrieving relevant objects from available data stores, leading to higher accuracy and better robustness. In this paper, we comprehensively review existing efforts that integrate RAG technique into AIGC scenarios. We first classify RAG foundations according to how the retriever augments the generator, distilling the fundamental abstractions of the augmentation methodologies for various retrievers and generators. This unified perspective encompasses all RAG scenarios, illuminating advancements and pivotal technologies that help with potential future progress. We also summarize additional enhancements methods for RAG, facilitating effective engineering and implementation of RAG systems. Then from another view, we survey on practical applications of RAG across different modalities and tasks, offering valuable references for researchers and practitioners. Furthermore, we introduce the benchmarks for RAG, discuss the limitations of current RAG systems, and suggest potential directions for future research. Github: //github.com/PKU-DAIR/RAG-Survey.
Traditional language models operate autoregressively, i.e., they predict one token at a time. Rapid explosion in model sizes has resulted in high inference times. In this work, we propose DynaMo, a suite of multi-token prediction language models that reduce net inference times. Our models $\textit{dynamically}$ predict multiple tokens based on their confidence in the predicted joint probability distribution. We propose a lightweight technique to train these models, leveraging the weights of traditional autoregressive counterparts. Moreover, we propose novel ways to enhance the estimated joint probability to improve text generation quality, namely co-occurrence weighted masking and adaptive thresholding. We also propose systematic qualitative and quantitative methods to rigorously test the quality of generated text for non-autoregressive generation. One of the models in our suite, DynaMo-7.3B-T3, achieves same-quality generated text as the baseline (Pythia-6.9B) while achieving 2.57$\times$ speed-up with only 5.87% and 2.67% parameter and training time overheads, respectively.
Large language models (LLMs) can generate long-form and coherent text, but they still frequently hallucinate facts, thus limiting their reliability. To address this issue, inference-time methods that elicit truthful responses have been proposed by shifting LLM representations towards learned "truthful directions". However, applying the truthful directions with the same intensity fails to generalize across different question contexts. We propose LITO, a Learnable Intervention method for Truthfulness Optimization that automatically identifies the optimal intervention intensity tailored to a specific context. LITO explores a sequence of model generations based on increasing levels of intervention intensities. It selects the most accurate response or refuses to answer when the predictions are highly uncertain. Experiments on multiple LLMs and question-answering datasets demonstrate that LITO improves truthfulness while preserving task accuracy. The adaptive nature of LITO counters issues with one-size-fits-all intervention-based solutions, maximizing model truthfulness by reflecting internal knowledge only when the model is confident.
Diffusion models have emerged as effective tools for generating diverse and high-quality content. However, their capability in high-resolution image generation, particularly for panoramic images, still faces challenges such as visible seams and incoherent transitions. In this paper, we propose TwinDiffusion, an optimized framework designed to address these challenges through two key innovations: Crop Fusion for quality enhancement and Cross Sampling for efficiency optimization. We introduce a training-free optimizing stage to refine the similarity of the adjacent image areas, as well as an interleaving sampling strategy to yield dynamic patches during the cropping process. A comprehensive evaluation is conducted to compare TwinDiffusion with the existing methods, considering factors including coherence, fidelity, compatibility, and efficiency. The results demonstrate the superior performance of our approach in generating seamless and coherent panoramas, setting a new standard in quality and efficiency for panoramic image generation.
In recent years, large language models have attracted significant attention due to their exceptional performance across a multitude of natural language process tasks, and have been widely applied in various fields. However, the application of large language models in the Intellectual Property (IP) space is challenging due to the strong need for specialized knowledge, privacy protection, processing of extremely long text in this field. In this technical report, we present for the first time a low-cost, standardized procedure for training IP-oriented LLMs, meeting the unique requirements of the IP domain. Using this standard process, we have trained the PatentGPT series models based on open-source pretrained models. By evaluating them on the open-source IP-oriented benchmark MOZIP, our domain-specific LLMs outperforms GPT-4, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed training procedure and the expertise of the PatentGPT models in the IP demain. What is impressive is that our model significantly outperformed GPT-4 on the 2019 China Patent Agent Qualification Examination by achieving a score of 65, reaching the level of human experts. Additionally, the PatentGPT model, which utilizes the SMoE architecture, achieves performance comparable to that of GPT-4 in the IP domain and demonstrates a better cost-performance ratio on long-text tasks, potentially serving as an alternative to GPT-4 within the IP domain.
As large language models (LLMs) take on complex tasks, their inputs are supplemented with longer contexts that incorporate domain knowledge or user-specific information. Yet using long contexts poses a challenge for responsive LLM systems, as nothing can be generated until the whole context is processed by the LLM. . CacheGen is a fast context-loading module for LLM systems. First, CacheGen uses a custom tensor encoder, which embraces KV cache's distributional properties, to encode a KV cache into more compact bitstream representations with negligible encoding/decoding overhead. This reduces the bandwidth demand to fetch the KV cache. Second, to maintain low context-loading delay and high generation quality, CacheGen adapts the streaming strategies to cope with changes in available bandwidth. When available bandwidth drops, CacheGen may raise the compression level for a part of the context or choose to recompute its KV cache on the fly. We test CacheGen on four popular LLMs of various sizes and four datasets (662 contexts in total). Compared to the recent systems that reuse the KV cache, CacheGen reduces the KV cache size by 3.5-4.3x and the total delay in fetching and processing contexts by 3.2-3.7x while having negligible impact on the LLM response quality in accuracy or perplexity.
As an emerging computing paradigm, edge computing offers computing resources closer to the data sources, helping to improve the service quality of many real-time applications. A crucial problem is designing a rational pricing mechanism to maximize the revenue of the edge computing service provider (ECSP). However, prior works have considerable limitations: clients are static and are required to disclose their preferences, which is impractical in reality. However, previous works assume user privacy information to be known or consider the number of users in edge scenarios to be static. To address this issue, we propose a novel sequential computation offloading mechanism, where the ECSP posts prices of computing resources with different configurations to clients in turn. Clients independently choose which computing resources to purchase and how to offload based on their prices. Then Egret, a deep reinforcement learning-based approach that achieves maximum revenue, is proposed. Egret determines the optimal price and visiting orders online without considering clients' preferences. Experimental results show that the revenue of ECSP in Egret is only 1.29\% lower than Oracle and 23.43\% better than the state-of-the-art when the client arrives dynamically.
Knowledge graphs (KGs), which store an extensive number of relational facts (head, relation, tail), serve various applications. While many downstream tasks highly rely on the expressive modeling and predictive embedding of KGs, most of the current KG representation learning methods, where each entity is embedded as a vector in the Euclidean space and each relation is embedded as a transformation, follow an entity ranking protocol. On one hand, such an embedding design cannot capture many-to-many relations. On the other hand, in many retrieval cases, the users wish to get an exact set of answers without any ranking, especially when the results are expected to be precise, e.g., which genes cause an illness. Such scenarios are commonly referred to as "set retrieval". This work presents a pioneering study on the KG set retrieval problem. We show that the set retrieval highly depends on expressive modeling of many-to-many relations, and propose a new KG embedding model SpherE to address this problem. SpherE is based on rotational embedding methods, but each entity is embedded as a sphere instead of a vector. While inheriting the high interpretability of rotational-based models, our SpherE can more expressively model one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relations. Through extensive experiments, we show that our SpherE can well address the set retrieval problem while still having a good predictive ability to infer missing facts. The code is available at //github.com/Violet24K/SpherE.
Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive capabilities in natural language processing. However, their internal mechanisms are still unclear and this lack of transparency poses unwanted risks for downstream applications. Therefore, understanding and explaining these models is crucial for elucidating their behaviors, limitations, and social impacts. In this paper, we introduce a taxonomy of explainability techniques and provide a structured overview of methods for explaining Transformer-based language models. We categorize techniques based on the training paradigms of LLMs: traditional fine-tuning-based paradigm and prompting-based paradigm. For each paradigm, we summarize the goals and dominant approaches for generating local explanations of individual predictions and global explanations of overall model knowledge. We also discuss metrics for evaluating generated explanations, and discuss how explanations can be leveraged to debug models and improve performance. Lastly, we examine key challenges and emerging opportunities for explanation techniques in the era of LLMs in comparison to conventional machine learning models.
The emergence of large language models (LLMs) has substantially influenced natural language processing, demonstrating exceptional results across various tasks. In this study, we employ ``Introspective Tips" to facilitate LLMs in self-optimizing their decision-making. By introspectively examining trajectories, LLM refines its policy by generating succinct and valuable tips. Our method enhances the agent's performance in both few-shot and zero-shot learning situations by considering three essential scenarios: learning from the agent's past experiences, integrating expert demonstrations, and generalizing across diverse games. Importantly, we accomplish these improvements without fine-tuning the LLM parameters; rather, we adjust the prompt to generalize insights from the three aforementioned situations. Our framework not only supports but also emphasizes the advantage of employing LLM in in-contxt decision-making. Experiments involving over 100 games in TextWorld illustrate the superior performance of our approach.