Leave No Document Behind: Benchmarking Long-Context LLMs with Extended Multi-Doc QA

Minzheng Wang, Longze Chen, Cheng Fu, Shengyi Liao, Xinghua Zhang, Bingli Wu, Haiyang Yu, Nan Xu, Lei Zhang, Run Luo, Yunshui Li, Min Yang, Fei Huang, Yongbin Li·June 25, 2024

Summary

The paper "Leave No Document Behind" introduces the Loong benchmark, a comprehensive evaluation tool for long-context language models in multi-document question answering. It tests models' ability to handle tasks where all documents are relevant, with four task types (Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning) and varying context lengths. The study finds that current LLMs, like RAG, have limitations in long-context understanding, indicating a need for better benchmarks. Loong uses diverse documents from financial, legal, and academic domains, with a focus on recent data, and assesses models' performance in extracting, comparing, and reasoning across multiple documents. The benchmark reveals gaps in performance for existing models and highlights the importance of scaling and training on longer data for improved long-context comprehension.

Key findings

3

Paper digest

What problem does the paper attempt to solve? Is this a new problem?

To provide a more accurate answer, I would need more specific information about the paper you are referring to. Please provide me with the title of the paper or a brief description of its topic so that I can assist you better.


What scientific hypothesis does this paper seek to validate?

The scientific hypothesis that this paper seeks to validate is related to the effectiveness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in answering complex multi-document questions accurately and efficiently. The paper aims to benchmark Long-Context LLMs with Extended Multi-Doc QA to assess their performance in tasks such as question answering, reasoning, and inference based on information extracted from multiple documents . The study evaluates the ability of LLMs to comprehend and process diverse sets of documents to provide accurate answers to questions that require reasoning across multiple sources of information .


What new ideas, methods, or models does the paper propose? What are the characteristics and advantages compared to previous methods?

The paper "Leave No Document Behind" proposes innovative approaches to enhance the capabilities of Long-Context Language Models (LLMs) in multi-document question answering tasks . One key idea introduced in the paper is the Loong benchmark, which serves as a comprehensive evaluation tool for assessing the performance of LLMs in handling tasks where all documents are relevant . This benchmark evaluates models based on four task types: Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning, while varying the context lengths to test the models' understanding of long-context scenarios .

To address the challenges posed by the quadratic complexity of Transformers and the significant computational resources required to train LLMs with extensive context windows from scratch, the paper explores methods to expand the context length of these models during the fine-tuning stage . Some of the approaches discussed include PI, NTK-aware, and YaRN, which aim to enhance the model's ability to process longer contexts without the need for training from scratch .

The study conducted in the paper highlights the limitations of current LLMs, such as RAG, in comprehending long-context scenarios, emphasizing the necessity for improved benchmarks to evaluate and enhance the performance of these models . By utilizing diverse documents from financial, legal, and academic domains, the Loong benchmark assesses models' proficiency in tasks like extracting, comparing, and reasoning across multiple documents, revealing performance gaps and underscoring the significance of scaling and training on longer data for enhanced long-context comprehension . The paper "Leave No Document Behind" introduces several characteristics and advantages of its proposed methods compared to previous approaches in the field of Long-Context Language Models (LLMs) for multi-document question answering tasks. Here are some key points based on the details provided in the paper:

  1. Loong Benchmark: The paper's introduction of the Loong benchmark stands out as a significant characteristic compared to previous methods. This benchmark offers a more comprehensive evaluation of LLMs by incorporating various task types and context lengths, enabling a more nuanced assessment of model performance in handling long-context scenarios. By including tasks like Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning, the Loong benchmark provides a more diverse and challenging evaluation framework compared to traditional benchmarks.

  2. Fine-Tuning Approaches: The paper explores innovative fine-tuning methods to extend the context length of LLMs without the need for training from scratch. Techniques like PI, NTK-aware, and YaRN are introduced to enhance the model's capacity to process longer contexts efficiently. These approaches offer advantages over previous methods by enabling the extension of context windows during fine-tuning, thereby improving the model's long-context comprehension without incurring the computational costs associated with training from scratch.

  3. Performance Evaluation: The paper's emphasis on evaluating LLMs' performance in multi-document question answering tasks using diverse documents from different domains (financial, legal, academic) is a notable characteristic. By highlighting the limitations of existing models like RAG in comprehending long-context scenarios, the paper underscores the need for improved benchmarks and training on longer data to enhance model performance. This detailed performance evaluation approach provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of current LLMs in handling complex multi-document tasks.

  4. Scalability and Efficiency: The proposed methods in the paper aim to address the scalability and efficiency challenges associated with training LLMs on extensive context windows. By introducing techniques that allow for the processing of longer contexts during fine-tuning, the paper offers advantages in terms of model scalability and computational efficiency compared to previous approaches that require training from scratch with large context sizes.

Overall, the characteristics and advantages of the methods proposed in the paper "Leave No Document Behind" demonstrate a novel and comprehensive approach to enhancing the capabilities of Long-Context Language Models in multi-document question answering tasks. The focus on innovative benchmarks, fine-tuning techniques, performance evaluation, and scalability highlights the paper's contributions to advancing research in this domain.


Do any related researches exist? Who are the noteworthy researchers on this topic in this field?What is the key to the solution mentioned in the paper?

Could you please specify the topic or field you are referring to so I can provide you with more accurate information?


How were the experiments in the paper designed?

To provide a detailed answer, I would need more specific information about the paper you are referring to. Could you please provide more details or context about the experiments in the paper so I can assist you better?


What is the dataset used for quantitative evaluation? Is the code open source?

The dataset used for quantitative evaluation in the context is Loong . The code for Loong, including the benchmark and the model, is available on GitHub at the following link: https://github.com/MozerWang/Loong .


Do the experiments and results in the paper provide good support for the scientific hypotheses that need to be verified? Please analyze.

To provide an accurate analysis, I would need more specific information about the paper, such as the title, authors, research question, methodology, and key findings. Without these details, it is challenging to assess whether the experiments and results effectively support the scientific hypotheses. If you can provide more context or details about the paper, I would be happy to help analyze it further.


What are the contributions of this paper?

The paper makes several contributions:

  • It proposes Loong, a benchmark designed to evaluate long-context comprehension in real-world multi-document scenarios, analyzing advanced language models like GPT-4o and Gemini-Pro1.5 .
  • The study compares the RAG approach and scaling laws related to context size to enhance long-context modeling capabilities .
  • It identifies limitations such as focusing on limited domains like financial, legal, and academic, and the high annotation cost involved in assessing long-context understanding capabilities .

What work can be continued in depth?

Further research in the field of long-context language models (LLMs) can be expanded in several areas based on the findings from the benchmarking study "Leave No Document Behind." One key aspect that warrants further exploration is the enhancement of benchmarks for evaluating LLMs' long-context understanding . The study highlighted limitations in current LLMs like RAG, indicating a need for more robust benchmarks to assess models' performance in handling tasks with varying context lengths and complexities .

Additionally, there is room for in-depth research on the behavior and capabilities of long-context LLMs, particularly focusing on the scaling law of context size and the challenges faced by even the most powerful LLMs in tasks like Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning . Understanding the performance gaps and areas of improvement for existing LLMs through detailed analyses can pave the way for advancements in long-context modeling .

Moreover, exploring efficient strategies for extending the context window of LLMs, such as skip-wise training methods, can be a valuable direction for future research . Given the computational challenges associated with training LLMs with extensive context windows, investigating techniques to expand context length during the fine-tuning stage could lead to more effective long-context modeling .

In summary, future research in the realm of long-context LLMs can focus on refining benchmarking methodologies, analyzing model behaviors, addressing performance limitations, and developing efficient strategies for extending context windows to enhance the capabilities of these language models .

Tables

7

Introduction
Background
Emergence of long-context language models (LLMs) in NLP
Importance of multi-document question answering (MDQA)
Objective
To introduce the Loong benchmark
Assess LLMs' performance in long-context understanding
Identify gaps and challenges for current models
Method
Data Collection
Diverse document sources: financial, legal, academic
Focus on recent data for relevance and timeliness
Selection criteria for document diversity and relevance
Data Preprocessing
Document formatting and standardization
Extraction of relevant information for tasks
Generation of multi-document contexts
Task Types
Spotlight Locating
Description and examples
Evaluation metrics
Comparison
Task definition
Performance analysis
Clustering
Task setup
Model performance in grouping documents
Chain of Reasoning
Sequential reasoning challenges
Assessment of model reasoning abilities
Evaluation Metrics
Accuracy, F1, and other relevant measures
Performance across varying context lengths
Results and Analysis
LLMs' performance on the Loong benchmark
Gaps identified in long-context comprehension
Impact of context length on model performance
Discussion
Limitations of current LLMs
Importance of scaling and longer training data
Future directions for research and model development
Conclusion
The significance of the Loong benchmark for benchmarking and improving LLMs
Recommendations for model developers and researchers
Potential implications for real-world applications
Basic info
papers
computation and language
artificial intelligence
Advanced features
Insights
Which types of tasks does the Loong benchmark evaluate in multi-document question answering?
How do current LLMs, such as RAG, perform in the context of long-context understanding, according to the study?
What is the primary purpose of the Loong benchmark introduced in the paper "Leave No Document Behind"?
What are the key domains and data characteristics of the documents used in the Loong benchmark?

Leave No Document Behind: Benchmarking Long-Context LLMs with Extended Multi-Doc QA

Minzheng Wang, Longze Chen, Cheng Fu, Shengyi Liao, Xinghua Zhang, Bingli Wu, Haiyang Yu, Nan Xu, Lei Zhang, Run Luo, Yunshui Li, Min Yang, Fei Huang, Yongbin Li·June 25, 2024

Summary

The paper "Leave No Document Behind" introduces the Loong benchmark, a comprehensive evaluation tool for long-context language models in multi-document question answering. It tests models' ability to handle tasks where all documents are relevant, with four task types (Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning) and varying context lengths. The study finds that current LLMs, like RAG, have limitations in long-context understanding, indicating a need for better benchmarks. Loong uses diverse documents from financial, legal, and academic domains, with a focus on recent data, and assesses models' performance in extracting, comparing, and reasoning across multiple documents. The benchmark reveals gaps in performance for existing models and highlights the importance of scaling and training on longer data for improved long-context comprehension.
Mind map
Assessment of model reasoning abilities
Sequential reasoning challenges
Model performance in grouping documents
Task setup
Performance analysis
Task definition
Evaluation metrics
Description and examples
Performance across varying context lengths
Accuracy, F1, and other relevant measures
Chain of Reasoning
Clustering
Comparison
Spotlight Locating
Generation of multi-document contexts
Extraction of relevant information for tasks
Document formatting and standardization
Selection criteria for document diversity and relevance
Focus on recent data for relevance and timeliness
Diverse document sources: financial, legal, academic
Identify gaps and challenges for current models
Assess LLMs' performance in long-context understanding
To introduce the Loong benchmark
Importance of multi-document question answering (MDQA)
Emergence of long-context language models (LLMs) in NLP
Potential implications for real-world applications
Recommendations for model developers and researchers
The significance of the Loong benchmark for benchmarking and improving LLMs
Future directions for research and model development
Importance of scaling and longer training data
Limitations of current LLMs
Impact of context length on model performance
Gaps identified in long-context comprehension
LLMs' performance on the Loong benchmark
Evaluation Metrics
Task Types
Data Preprocessing
Data Collection
Objective
Background
Conclusion
Discussion
Results and Analysis
Method
Introduction
Outline
Introduction
Background
Emergence of long-context language models (LLMs) in NLP
Importance of multi-document question answering (MDQA)
Objective
To introduce the Loong benchmark
Assess LLMs' performance in long-context understanding
Identify gaps and challenges for current models
Method
Data Collection
Diverse document sources: financial, legal, academic
Focus on recent data for relevance and timeliness
Selection criteria for document diversity and relevance
Data Preprocessing
Document formatting and standardization
Extraction of relevant information for tasks
Generation of multi-document contexts
Task Types
Spotlight Locating
Description and examples
Evaluation metrics
Comparison
Task definition
Performance analysis
Clustering
Task setup
Model performance in grouping documents
Chain of Reasoning
Sequential reasoning challenges
Assessment of model reasoning abilities
Evaluation Metrics
Accuracy, F1, and other relevant measures
Performance across varying context lengths
Results and Analysis
LLMs' performance on the Loong benchmark
Gaps identified in long-context comprehension
Impact of context length on model performance
Discussion
Limitations of current LLMs
Importance of scaling and longer training data
Future directions for research and model development
Conclusion
The significance of the Loong benchmark for benchmarking and improving LLMs
Recommendations for model developers and researchers
Potential implications for real-world applications
Key findings
3

Paper digest

What problem does the paper attempt to solve? Is this a new problem?

To provide a more accurate answer, I would need more specific information about the paper you are referring to. Please provide me with the title of the paper or a brief description of its topic so that I can assist you better.


What scientific hypothesis does this paper seek to validate?

The scientific hypothesis that this paper seeks to validate is related to the effectiveness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in answering complex multi-document questions accurately and efficiently. The paper aims to benchmark Long-Context LLMs with Extended Multi-Doc QA to assess their performance in tasks such as question answering, reasoning, and inference based on information extracted from multiple documents . The study evaluates the ability of LLMs to comprehend and process diverse sets of documents to provide accurate answers to questions that require reasoning across multiple sources of information .


What new ideas, methods, or models does the paper propose? What are the characteristics and advantages compared to previous methods?

The paper "Leave No Document Behind" proposes innovative approaches to enhance the capabilities of Long-Context Language Models (LLMs) in multi-document question answering tasks . One key idea introduced in the paper is the Loong benchmark, which serves as a comprehensive evaluation tool for assessing the performance of LLMs in handling tasks where all documents are relevant . This benchmark evaluates models based on four task types: Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning, while varying the context lengths to test the models' understanding of long-context scenarios .

To address the challenges posed by the quadratic complexity of Transformers and the significant computational resources required to train LLMs with extensive context windows from scratch, the paper explores methods to expand the context length of these models during the fine-tuning stage . Some of the approaches discussed include PI, NTK-aware, and YaRN, which aim to enhance the model's ability to process longer contexts without the need for training from scratch .

The study conducted in the paper highlights the limitations of current LLMs, such as RAG, in comprehending long-context scenarios, emphasizing the necessity for improved benchmarks to evaluate and enhance the performance of these models . By utilizing diverse documents from financial, legal, and academic domains, the Loong benchmark assesses models' proficiency in tasks like extracting, comparing, and reasoning across multiple documents, revealing performance gaps and underscoring the significance of scaling and training on longer data for enhanced long-context comprehension . The paper "Leave No Document Behind" introduces several characteristics and advantages of its proposed methods compared to previous approaches in the field of Long-Context Language Models (LLMs) for multi-document question answering tasks. Here are some key points based on the details provided in the paper:

  1. Loong Benchmark: The paper's introduction of the Loong benchmark stands out as a significant characteristic compared to previous methods. This benchmark offers a more comprehensive evaluation of LLMs by incorporating various task types and context lengths, enabling a more nuanced assessment of model performance in handling long-context scenarios. By including tasks like Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning, the Loong benchmark provides a more diverse and challenging evaluation framework compared to traditional benchmarks.

  2. Fine-Tuning Approaches: The paper explores innovative fine-tuning methods to extend the context length of LLMs without the need for training from scratch. Techniques like PI, NTK-aware, and YaRN are introduced to enhance the model's capacity to process longer contexts efficiently. These approaches offer advantages over previous methods by enabling the extension of context windows during fine-tuning, thereby improving the model's long-context comprehension without incurring the computational costs associated with training from scratch.

  3. Performance Evaluation: The paper's emphasis on evaluating LLMs' performance in multi-document question answering tasks using diverse documents from different domains (financial, legal, academic) is a notable characteristic. By highlighting the limitations of existing models like RAG in comprehending long-context scenarios, the paper underscores the need for improved benchmarks and training on longer data to enhance model performance. This detailed performance evaluation approach provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of current LLMs in handling complex multi-document tasks.

  4. Scalability and Efficiency: The proposed methods in the paper aim to address the scalability and efficiency challenges associated with training LLMs on extensive context windows. By introducing techniques that allow for the processing of longer contexts during fine-tuning, the paper offers advantages in terms of model scalability and computational efficiency compared to previous approaches that require training from scratch with large context sizes.

Overall, the characteristics and advantages of the methods proposed in the paper "Leave No Document Behind" demonstrate a novel and comprehensive approach to enhancing the capabilities of Long-Context Language Models in multi-document question answering tasks. The focus on innovative benchmarks, fine-tuning techniques, performance evaluation, and scalability highlights the paper's contributions to advancing research in this domain.


Do any related researches exist? Who are the noteworthy researchers on this topic in this field?What is the key to the solution mentioned in the paper?

Could you please specify the topic or field you are referring to so I can provide you with more accurate information?


How were the experiments in the paper designed?

To provide a detailed answer, I would need more specific information about the paper you are referring to. Could you please provide more details or context about the experiments in the paper so I can assist you better?


What is the dataset used for quantitative evaluation? Is the code open source?

The dataset used for quantitative evaluation in the context is Loong . The code for Loong, including the benchmark and the model, is available on GitHub at the following link: https://github.com/MozerWang/Loong .


Do the experiments and results in the paper provide good support for the scientific hypotheses that need to be verified? Please analyze.

To provide an accurate analysis, I would need more specific information about the paper, such as the title, authors, research question, methodology, and key findings. Without these details, it is challenging to assess whether the experiments and results effectively support the scientific hypotheses. If you can provide more context or details about the paper, I would be happy to help analyze it further.


What are the contributions of this paper?

The paper makes several contributions:

  • It proposes Loong, a benchmark designed to evaluate long-context comprehension in real-world multi-document scenarios, analyzing advanced language models like GPT-4o and Gemini-Pro1.5 .
  • The study compares the RAG approach and scaling laws related to context size to enhance long-context modeling capabilities .
  • It identifies limitations such as focusing on limited domains like financial, legal, and academic, and the high annotation cost involved in assessing long-context understanding capabilities .

What work can be continued in depth?

Further research in the field of long-context language models (LLMs) can be expanded in several areas based on the findings from the benchmarking study "Leave No Document Behind." One key aspect that warrants further exploration is the enhancement of benchmarks for evaluating LLMs' long-context understanding . The study highlighted limitations in current LLMs like RAG, indicating a need for more robust benchmarks to assess models' performance in handling tasks with varying context lengths and complexities .

Additionally, there is room for in-depth research on the behavior and capabilities of long-context LLMs, particularly focusing on the scaling law of context size and the challenges faced by even the most powerful LLMs in tasks like Spotlight Locating, Comparison, Clustering, and Chain of Reasoning . Understanding the performance gaps and areas of improvement for existing LLMs through detailed analyses can pave the way for advancements in long-context modeling .

Moreover, exploring efficient strategies for extending the context window of LLMs, such as skip-wise training methods, can be a valuable direction for future research . Given the computational challenges associated with training LLMs with extensive context windows, investigating techniques to expand context length during the fine-tuning stage could lead to more effective long-context modeling .

In summary, future research in the realm of long-context LLMs can focus on refining benchmarking methodologies, analyzing model behaviors, addressing performance limitations, and developing efficient strategies for extending context windows to enhance the capabilities of these language models .

Tables
7
Scan the QR code to ask more questions about the paper
© 2025 Powerdrill. All rights reserved.