Despite the versatility of pre-trained language models (PLMs) across domains, their large memory footprints pose significant challenges in federated learning (FL), where the training model has to be distributed between a server and clients. One potential solution to bypass such constraints might be the use of parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) in the context of FL. However, we have observed that typical PEFT tends to severely suffer from heterogeneity among clients in FL scenarios, resulting in unstable and slow convergence. In this paper, we propose Client-Customized Adaptation (C2A), a novel hypernetwork-based FL framework that generates client-specific adapters by conditioning the client information. With the effectiveness of the hypernetworks in generating customized weights through learning to adopt the different characteristics of inputs, C2A can maximize the utility of shared model parameters while minimizing the divergence caused by client heterogeneity. To verify the efficacy of C2A, we perform extensive evaluations on FL scenarios involving heterogeneity in label and language distributions. Comprehensive evaluation results clearly support the superiority of C2A in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness in FL scenarios.
To tackle the challenges of large language model performance in natural language to SQL tasks, we introduce XiYan-SQL, an innovative framework that employs a multi-generator ensemble strategy to improve candidate generation. We introduce M-Schema, a semi-structured schema representation method designed to enhance the understanding of database structures. To enhance the quality and diversity of generated candidate SQL queries, XiYan-SQL integrates the significant potential of in-context learning (ICL) with the precise control of supervised fine-tuning. On one hand, we propose a series of training strategies to fine-tune models to generate high-quality candidates with diverse preferences. On the other hand, we implement the ICL approach with an example selection method based on named entity recognition to prevent overemphasis on entities. The refiner optimizes each candidate by correcting logical or syntactical errors. To address the challenge of identifying the best candidate, we fine-tune a selection model to distinguish nuances of candidate SQL queries. The experimental results on multiple dialect datasets demonstrate the robustness of XiYan-SQL in addressing challenges across different scenarios. Overall, our proposed XiYan-SQL achieves the state-of-the-art execution accuracy of 75.63% on Bird benchmark, 89.65% on the Spider test set, 69.86% on SQL-Eval, 41.20% on NL2GQL. The proposed framework not only enhances the quality and diversity of SQL queries but also outperforms previous methods.
Auto-regressive Large Language Models (LLMs) demonstrate remarkable performance across different domains such as vision and language processing. However, due to sequential processing through a stack of transformer layers, autoregressive decoding faces significant computation/latency challenges, particularly in resource-constrained environments like mobile and edge devices. Existing approaches in literature that aim to improve latency via skipping layers have two distinct flavors - 1) Early exit, and 2) Input-agnostic heuristics where tokens exit at pre-determined layers irrespective of input sequence. Both the above strategies have limitations - the former cannot be applied to handle KV Caching necessary for speed-ups in modern framework and the latter does not capture the variation in layer importance across tasks or more generally, across input sequences. To address both limitations, we propose FiRST, an algorithm that reduces inference latency by using layer-specific routers to select a subset of transformer layers adaptively for each input sequence - the prompt (during the prefill stage) decides which layers will be skipped during decoding. FiRST preserves compatibility with KV caching enabling faster inference while being quality-aware. FiRST is model-agnostic and can be easily enabled on any pre-trained LLM. Our approach reveals that input adaptivity is critical - indeed, different task-specific middle layers play a crucial role in evolving hidden representations depending on tasks. Extensive experiments show that FiRST significantly reduces latency while outperforming other layer selection strategies in quality metics. It retains competitive performance to base model (without layer skipping) and in some cases, even improves upon it. FiRST is thus a promising and efficient solution for LLM deployment in low-resource environments.
Code generation with large language models has shown significant promise, especially when employing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with few-shot examples. However, selecting effective examples that enhance generation quality remains a challenging task, particularly when the target programming language (PL) is underrepresented. In this study, we present two key findings: (1) retrieving examples whose presented algorithmic plans can be referenced for generating the desired behavior significantly improves generation accuracy, and (2) converting code into pseudocode effectively captures such algorithmic plans, enhancing retrieval quality even when the source and the target PLs are different. Based on these findings, we propose Plan-as-query Example Retrieval for few-shot prompting in Code generation (PERC), a novel framework that utilizes algorithmic plans to identify and retrieve effective examples. We validate the effectiveness of PERC through extensive experiments on the CodeContests, HumanEval and MultiPL-E benchmarks: PERC consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art RAG methods in code generation, both when the source and target programming languages match or differ, highlighting its adaptability and robustness in diverse coding environments.
In-context learning (ICL) enables Large Language Models (LLMs) to perform tasks using few demonstrations, facilitating task adaptation when labeled examples are hard to obtain. However, ICL is sensitive to the choice of demonstrations, and it remains unclear which demonstration attributes enable in-context generalization. In this work, we conduct a perturbation study of in-context demonstrations for low-resource Named Entity Detection (NED). Our surprising finding is that in-context demonstrations with partially correct annotated entity mentions can be as effective for task transfer as fully correct demonstrations. Based off our findings, we propose Pseudo-annotated In-Context Learning (PICLe), a framework for in-context learning with noisy, pseudo-annotated demonstrations. PICLe leverages LLMs to annotate many demonstrations in a zero-shot first pass. We then cluster these synthetic demonstrations, sample specific sets of in-context demonstrations from each cluster, and predict entity mentions using each set independently. Finally, we use self-verification to select the final set of entity mentions. We evaluate PICLe on five biomedical NED datasets and show that, with zero human annotation, PICLe outperforms ICL in low-resource settings where limited gold examples can be used as in-context demonstrations.
Self-correction in text-to-SQL is the process of prompting large language model (LLM) to revise its previously incorrectly generated SQL, and commonly relies on manually crafted self-correction guidelines by human experts that are not only labor-intensive to produce but also limited by the human ability in identifying all potential error patterns in LLM responses. We introduce MAGIC, a novel multi-agent method that automates the creation of the self-correction guideline. MAGIC uses three specialized agents: a manager, a correction, and a feedback agent. These agents collaborate on the failures of an LLM-based method on the training set to iteratively generate and refine a self-correction guideline tailored to LLM mistakes, mirroring human processes but without human involvement. Our extensive experiments show that MAGIC's guideline outperforms expert human's created ones. We empirically find out that the guideline produced by MAGIC enhance the interpretability of the corrections made, providing insights in analyzing the reason behind the failures and successes of LLMs in self-correction. We make all agent interactions publicly available to the research community, to foster further research in this area, offering a synthetic dataset for future explorations into automatic self-correction guideline generation.
The emergence of long-context text applications utilizing large language models (LLMs) has presented significant scalability challenges, particularly in memory footprint. The linear growth of the Key-Value (KV) cache responsible for storing attention keys and values to minimize redundant computations can lead to substantial increases in memory consumption, potentially causing models to fail to serve with limited memory resources. To address this issue, we propose a novel approach called Cache Sparse Representation (CSR), which converts the KV cache by transforming the dense Key-Value cache tensor into sparse indexes and weights, offering a more memory-efficient representation during LLM inference. Furthermore, we introduce NeuralDict, a novel neural network-based method for automatically generating the dictionary used in our sparse representation. Our extensive experiments demonstrate that CSR achieves performance comparable to state-of-the-art KV cache quantization algorithms while maintaining robust functionality in memory-constrained environments.
With rapid advances, generative large language models (LLMs) dominate various Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks from understanding to reasoning. Yet, language models' inherent vulnerabilities may be exacerbated due to increased accessibility and unrestricted model training on massive data. A malicious adversary may publish poisoned data online and conduct backdoor attacks on the victim LLMs pre-trained on the poisoned data. Backdoored LLMs behave innocuously for normal queries and generate harmful responses when the backdoor trigger is activated. Despite significant efforts paid to LLMs' safety issues, LLMs are still struggling against backdoor attacks. As Anthropic recently revealed, existing safety training strategies, including supervised fine-tuning (SFT) and Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), fail to revoke the backdoors once the LLM is backdoored during the pre-training stage. In this paper, we present Simulate and Eliminate (SANDE) to erase the undesired backdoored mappings for generative LLMs. We initially propose Overwrite Supervised Fine-tuning (OSFT) for effective backdoor removal when the trigger is known. Then, to handle scenarios where trigger patterns are unknown, we integrate OSFT into our two-stage framework, SANDE. Unlike other works that assume access to cleanly trained models, our safety-enhanced LLMs are able to revoke backdoors without any reference. Consequently, our safety-enhanced LLMs no longer produce targeted responses when the backdoor triggers are activated. We conduct comprehensive experiments to show that our proposed SANDE is effective against backdoor attacks while bringing minimal harm to LLMs' powerful capability.
Despite the significant advancements in Text-to-SQL (Text2SQL) facilitated by large language models (LLMs), the latest state-of-the-art techniques are still trapped in the in-context learning of closed-source LLMs (e.g., GPT-4), which limits their applicability in open scenarios. To address this challenge, we propose a novel RObust mUltitask Tuning and collaboration mEthod (ROUTE) to improve the comprehensive capabilities of open-source LLMs for Text2SQL, thereby providing a more practical solution. Our approach begins with multi-task supervised fine-tuning (SFT) using various synthetic training data related to SQL generation. Unlike existing SFT-based Text2SQL methods, we introduced several additional SFT tasks, including schema linking, noise correction, and continuation writing. Engaging in a variety of SQL generation tasks enhances the model's understanding of SQL syntax and improves its ability to generate high-quality SQL queries. Additionally, inspired by the collaborative modes of LLM agents, we introduce a Multitask Collaboration Prompting (MCP) strategy. This strategy leverages collaboration across several SQL-related tasks to reduce hallucinations during SQL generation, thereby maximizing the potential of enhancing Text2SQL performance through explicit multitask capabilities. Extensive experiments and in-depth analyses have been performed on eight open-source LLMs and five widely-used benchmarks. The results demonstrate that our proposal outperforms the latest Text2SQL methods and yields leading performance.
Since the launch of ChatGPT, a powerful AI Chatbot developed by OpenAI, large language models (LLMs) have made significant advancements in both academia and industry, bringing about a fundamental engineering paradigm shift in many areas. While LLMs are powerful, it is also crucial to best use their power where "prompt'' plays a core role. However, the booming LLMs themselves, including excellent APIs like ChatGPT, have several inherent limitations: 1) temporal lag of training data, and 2) the lack of physical capabilities to perform external actions. Recently, we have observed the trend of utilizing prompt-based tools to better utilize the power of LLMs for downstream tasks, but a lack of systematic literature and standardized terminology, partly due to the rapid evolution of this field. Therefore, in this work, we survey related prompting tools and promote the concept of the "Prompting Framework" (PF), i.e. the framework for managing, simplifying, and facilitating interaction with large language models. We define the lifecycle of the PF as a hierarchical structure, from bottom to top, namely: Data Level, Base Level, Execute Level, and Service Level. We also systematically depict the overall landscape of the emerging PF field and discuss potential future research and challenges. To continuously track the developments in this area, we maintain a repository at //github.com/lxx0628/Prompting-Framework-Survey, which can be a useful resource sharing platform for both academic and industry in this field.
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.