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Poster

The Cost of Scaling Down Large Language Models: Reducing Model Size Affects Memory before In-context Learning

Tian Jin · Nolan Clement · Xin Dong · Vaishnavh Nagarajan · Michael Carbin · Jonathan Ragan-Kelley · Gintare Karolina Dziugaite

Halle B #133
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Tue 7 May 1:45 a.m. PDT — 3:45 a.m. PDT

Abstract:

We study how down-scaling large language model (LLM) size impacts LLM capabilities. We begin by measuring the effects of weight pruning – a popular technique for reducing model size – on the two abilities of LLMs: (a) recalling facts presented during pre-training and (b) processing information presented in context. Surprisingly, we find that existing pruning techniques affect these two abilities of LLMs differently. For example, pruning more than 30% of weights significantly decreases an LLM’s ability to recall facts presented during pre-training. Yet pruning 60-70% of weights largely preserves an LLM’s ability to process information in-context, ranging from retrieving answers based on information presented in context to learning parameterized functions such as a linear classifier based on a few examples. Moderate pruning impairs LLM’s ability to recall facts learnt from pre-training. However, its effect on model’s ability to process information presented in context is much less pronounced. The said disparate effects similarly arise when replacing the original model with a smaller dense one with reduced width and depth. This similarity suggests that model size reduction in general underpins the said disparity.

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