Preserving Knowledge in Large Language Model: A Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach

Zilun Zhang, Yutao Sun, Tiancheng Zhao, Leigang Sha, Ruochen Xu, Kyusong Lee, Jianwei Yin·June 17, 2024

Summary

This paper addresses the issue of catastrophic forgetting in large and multimodal language models during fine-tuning on domain-specific data. The authors propose a model-agnostic method called Tree Generation (TG) and its variant TG-SFT, which generates synthetic data to preserve old knowledge during fine-tuning. TG-SFT uses a tree-based dialogue generation process that alternates between question and answer formation, enhancing model performance without compromising general language understanding. The study highlights the connection between LLMs and lossless compression, demonstrating that TG-SFT can improve performance in specific domains while maintaining the model's core capabilities. Experiments with LLaVA model show that TG-SFT, particularly Balance-Tree, significantly improves LLM benchmark scores and approaches human-generated data quality. However, the paper also acknowledges limitations, such as data safety concerns and the need for better evaluation methods for synthetic data in specific domains.

Key findings

3

Paper digest

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

The paper aims to address the issue of catastrophic forgetting in large language models (LLMs) through a model-agnostic self-decompression approach . Catastrophic forgetting refers to the phenomenon where a model forgets previously learned information when trained on new data, leading to a decline in performance on earlier tasks . This problem is not new and has been a significant challenge in deep learning, particularly in the context of continual learning or fine-tuning models on new tasks . The paper proposes a novel method called Tree-Generation (TG) and its variants, such as TG-SFT, to mitigate catastrophic forgetting in LLMs by preserving knowledge through a self-decompression process .


What scientific hypothesis does this paper seek to validate?

This paper aims to validate the hypothesis related to the preservation of knowledge in large language models through a Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach . The study focuses on evaluating various aspects such as object hallucination in vision-language models, synthetic data generation for text classification, and the impact of subjectivity on model performance when trained on synthetic data . The research also delves into the use of high-quality synthetic datasets to enhance language model performance on complex tasks and the potential for smaller models to compete with larger ones through quality data curation .


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

The paper "Preserving Knowledge in Large Language Model: A Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach" introduces several innovative ideas, methods, and models in the field of large language models . Here are some key points from the paper:

  1. New Models:

    • The paper discusses various models such as LLaMA 2, LLaVA, and Nemotron-4 340B, each designed to enhance different aspects of language model performance .
  2. Innovative Methods:

    • TG-SFT (Tree-structured Generation for Structured Fine-Tuning) methodology is introduced for efficient dialogue generation using a backbone LLM. This method involves structured dialogue sequences through a tree-based expansion strategy to create diverse and accurate conversational datasets for model training .
    • Evol-Instruct, an evolutionary algorithm presented by Xu et al., generates diverse and complex instruction data to enhance LLM performance on high-complexity tasks through automated data evolution and fine-tuning .
    • The paper also mentions a targeted and iterative data augmentation strategy by Lee et al., which improves LLM performance in low-data scenarios by generating synthetic data based on incorrect predictions from a student model .
  3. Innovative Ideas:

    • The study by Jang explores the capability of GPT-4 to self-reflect and edit its own generations, suggesting the potential for self-correction and improvement in LLMs without external feedback .
    • Finlayson et al. demonstrate that non-public information about API-protected LLMs can be extracted efficiently from a small number of API queries, emphasizing the need for improved privacy protections in language models .

These new ideas, methods, and models presented in the paper contribute to advancing the capabilities and performance of large language models, offering insights into improving model training, data augmentation, and model self-correction processes. The paper "Preserving Knowledge in Large Language Model: A Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach" introduces a novel method called Tree-Generation (TG) and its variants, TG-SFT, for preserving knowledge within Large Language Models (LLMs) by decompressing knowledge into the training corpus . This approach offers several characteristics and advantages compared to previous methods:

  1. Model-Agnostic Approach:

    • The TG method is designed to be model-agnostic, allowing it to apply to any Large Language Model (LLM) . This flexibility enables the preservation of knowledge across different types of language models, enhancing adaptability and generalizability.
  2. Reduction of Catastrophic Forgetting:

    • By incorporating decompressed data during post-pretraining or supervised fine-tuning (SFT), the TG-SFT approach significantly reduces the issue of catastrophic forgetting in LLMs . This ensures that the model retains old knowledge while learning new information, addressing a common challenge in model training.
  3. Improved Performance:

    • Experimental results demonstrate that the TG algorithm, specifically the TG-SFT approach, is effective in reducing catastrophic forgetting and preserving original knowledge in LLMs . This leads to enhanced performance and mitigates the decline in performance often observed in domain-specific tasks.
  4. Versatility in Training Regimes:

    • The TG method is not only suitable for supervised fine-tuning (SFT) but also for Post-Pretraining, showcasing its versatility across different training regimes . This versatility allows for the application of the TG algorithm in various stages of model training, demonstrating its broad utility.
  5. Control over Data Generation:

    • The tree structure in TG enables flexible control over the speed and diversity of data generation, providing better control of the generation process . This control contributes to the quality and efficiency of data generation, enhancing the overall performance of the model.

In summary, the Tree-Generation (TG) method and its TG-SFT variants offer a model-agnostic, effective, and versatile approach to preserving knowledge in Large Language Models (LLMs) by reducing catastrophic forgetting, improving performance, and providing control over data generation processes. These characteristics and advantages make the TG method a valuable contribution to the field of language model training and development.


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?

Several related research studies exist in the field of large language models. Noteworthy researchers in this field include Everton L. Aleixo, Juan G. Colonna, Marco Cristo, Everlandio Fernandes, Zhangir Azerbayev, Hailey Schoelkopf, Keiran Paster, and many others . The key to the solution mentioned in the paper is the Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach, which focuses on preserving knowledge in large language models through a specific decompression method .


How were the experiments in the paper designed?

The experiments in the paper were designed by selecting specific benchmarks for Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach experiments. The MLLM benchmarks chosen included gqa, textvqa_val, pope, mme, seedbench, mmbench_cn_dev, mmbench_en_dev, scienceqa_img, vqav2_val, vizwiz_vqa_val . For the LLM benchmarks, the experiments utilized arc_challenge (25-shot), gsm8k (5-shot), hellaswag (10-shot), mmlu (5-shot), winogrande (5-shot), truthfulqa (0-shot) . The experiments were conducted using the LLaMA2-chat (7B) model as the baseline for LLM benchmarks, aligning the CLIP vision encoder with LLaMA2-chat for MLLM, and fine-tuning both the LLaMA2-chat model and the projector to obtain the LLaVA model . The training data and configurations strictly followed the LLaVA repository, and specific datasets were used for alignment, fine-tuning, and corpus generation .


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

The dataset used for quantitative evaluation in the study is a set of benchmarks including GQA, MMBench, POPE, SQAI, SEED, TextVQA, VisWiz, and VQAv2 for MLLM benchmarks, and AI2 Reasoning Challenge (ARC), HellaSwag, MMLU, TruthfulQA, Winogrande, and GSM8K for LLM benchmarks . The code used in the study is open source and can be accessed at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/haotian-liu/LLaVA .


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

The experiments and results presented in the paper provide substantial support for the scientific hypotheses that need to be verified. The study conducted a detailed analysis of various methods and benchmarks in the context of large language models (LLMs) . The experiments included evaluating object hallucination in large vision-language models, introducing synthetic data generation techniques, and exploring the impact of different tree configurations and conversation turns on model performance .

The experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of the TG-SFT approach with different tree configurations, showing parameter-insensitivity properties and consistent performance across various settings . Additionally, the study discussed the limitations of the research, such as data leakage risks, exposure to NSFW content, and the need for accurate fact verification in synthetic data . These discussions contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the implications and challenges associated with the experimental results.

Overall, the experiments and results in the paper offer valuable insights and empirical evidence to support the scientific hypotheses under investigation. The thorough exploration of different methodologies, benchmarks, and limitations enhances the credibility and robustness of the study's findings, providing a solid foundation for verifying the scientific hypotheses in the field of large language models.


What are the contributions of this paper?

The paper makes several contributions, including:

  • Introducing a model-agnostic self-decompression approach for preserving knowledge in large language models .
  • Discussing the bridging of distribution gaps in language model fine-tuning through self-distillation .
  • Presenting the Genie model that achieves human parity in content-grounded dataset generation .
  • Providing a survey on multimodal large language models .
  • Introducing Chatdoctor, a medical chat model fine-tuned on the llama model using medical domain knowledge .

What work can be continued in depth?

The work that can be continued in depth involves exploring the specificity and depth in subsequent layers of the dialogue structure. The sizes of subsequent layers can be tailored based on the dialogue depth, with a focus on generating detailed explanations as the discussion delves deeper into specific topics . This setting aims to provide more detailed responses and explanations as the conversation progresses, ensuring comprehensive coverage of specific subjects . Additionally, the token allocation strategy per layer is carefully designed to ensure concise questions and detailed responses, enhancing the efficiency of the generation process .

Tables

2

Introduction
Background
Overview of catastrophic forgetting in LLMs
Importance of fine-tuning on domain-specific data
Objective
To propose a model-agnostic method for mitigating forgetting
Introduce Tree Generation (TG) and TG-SFT
Aim to enhance performance and maintain general language understanding
Method
Data Collection
Synthetic data generation using TG and TG-SFT
Tree-based dialogue generation process
Data Preprocessing
Alternating question and answer formation
Connection to lossless compression theory
TG-SFT Variants
Balance-Tree: a specific implementation
Comparison with other TG variants
Experiments and Evaluation
LLaVA Model
LLM benchmark performance with TG-SFT
Improvement in domain-specific tasks
Comparison with human-generated data quality
Results and Analysis
Enhanced model performance in specific domains
Impact on maintaining core language understanding
Limitations and Future Directions
Data safety concerns
Need for improved evaluation methods for synthetic data in domains
Conclusion
Summary of findings and contributions
Implications for future research on mitigating catastrophic forgetting
Potential applications of TG-SFT in real-world scenarios
Basic info
papers
computation and language
computer vision and pattern recognition
artificial intelligence
Advanced features
Insights
How does TG-SFT enhance model performance during fine-tuning, and what is its connection to LLMs and lossless compression?
What problem does the paper focus on in the context of language models?
What improvements does TG-SFT, specifically Balance-Tree, bring to the LLaVA model's benchmark scores and data quality?
What is the proposed method by the authors to address catastrophic forgetting?

Preserving Knowledge in Large Language Model: A Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach

Zilun Zhang, Yutao Sun, Tiancheng Zhao, Leigang Sha, Ruochen Xu, Kyusong Lee, Jianwei Yin·June 17, 2024

Summary

This paper addresses the issue of catastrophic forgetting in large and multimodal language models during fine-tuning on domain-specific data. The authors propose a model-agnostic method called Tree Generation (TG) and its variant TG-SFT, which generates synthetic data to preserve old knowledge during fine-tuning. TG-SFT uses a tree-based dialogue generation process that alternates between question and answer formation, enhancing model performance without compromising general language understanding. The study highlights the connection between LLMs and lossless compression, demonstrating that TG-SFT can improve performance in specific domains while maintaining the model's core capabilities. Experiments with LLaVA model show that TG-SFT, particularly Balance-Tree, significantly improves LLM benchmark scores and approaches human-generated data quality. However, the paper also acknowledges limitations, such as data safety concerns and the need for better evaluation methods for synthetic data in specific domains.
Mind map
Comparison with other TG variants
Balance-Tree: a specific implementation
Need for improved evaluation methods for synthetic data in domains
Data safety concerns
Impact on maintaining core language understanding
Enhanced model performance in specific domains
Comparison with human-generated data quality
Improvement in domain-specific tasks
LLM benchmark performance with TG-SFT
TG-SFT Variants
Tree-based dialogue generation process
Synthetic data generation using TG and TG-SFT
Aim to enhance performance and maintain general language understanding
Introduce Tree Generation (TG) and TG-SFT
To propose a model-agnostic method for mitigating forgetting
Importance of fine-tuning on domain-specific data
Overview of catastrophic forgetting in LLMs
Potential applications of TG-SFT in real-world scenarios
Implications for future research on mitigating catastrophic forgetting
Summary of findings and contributions
Limitations and Future Directions
Results and Analysis
LLaVA Model
Data Preprocessing
Data Collection
Objective
Background
Conclusion
Experiments and Evaluation
Method
Introduction
Outline
Introduction
Background
Overview of catastrophic forgetting in LLMs
Importance of fine-tuning on domain-specific data
Objective
To propose a model-agnostic method for mitigating forgetting
Introduce Tree Generation (TG) and TG-SFT
Aim to enhance performance and maintain general language understanding
Method
Data Collection
Synthetic data generation using TG and TG-SFT
Tree-based dialogue generation process
Data Preprocessing
Alternating question and answer formation
Connection to lossless compression theory
TG-SFT Variants
Balance-Tree: a specific implementation
Comparison with other TG variants
Experiments and Evaluation
LLaVA Model
LLM benchmark performance with TG-SFT
Improvement in domain-specific tasks
Comparison with human-generated data quality
Results and Analysis
Enhanced model performance in specific domains
Impact on maintaining core language understanding
Limitations and Future Directions
Data safety concerns
Need for improved evaluation methods for synthetic data in domains
Conclusion
Summary of findings and contributions
Implications for future research on mitigating catastrophic forgetting
Potential applications of TG-SFT in real-world scenarios
Key findings
3

Paper digest

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

The paper aims to address the issue of catastrophic forgetting in large language models (LLMs) through a model-agnostic self-decompression approach . Catastrophic forgetting refers to the phenomenon where a model forgets previously learned information when trained on new data, leading to a decline in performance on earlier tasks . This problem is not new and has been a significant challenge in deep learning, particularly in the context of continual learning or fine-tuning models on new tasks . The paper proposes a novel method called Tree-Generation (TG) and its variants, such as TG-SFT, to mitigate catastrophic forgetting in LLMs by preserving knowledge through a self-decompression process .


What scientific hypothesis does this paper seek to validate?

This paper aims to validate the hypothesis related to the preservation of knowledge in large language models through a Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach . The study focuses on evaluating various aspects such as object hallucination in vision-language models, synthetic data generation for text classification, and the impact of subjectivity on model performance when trained on synthetic data . The research also delves into the use of high-quality synthetic datasets to enhance language model performance on complex tasks and the potential for smaller models to compete with larger ones through quality data curation .


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

The paper "Preserving Knowledge in Large Language Model: A Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach" introduces several innovative ideas, methods, and models in the field of large language models . Here are some key points from the paper:

  1. New Models:

    • The paper discusses various models such as LLaMA 2, LLaVA, and Nemotron-4 340B, each designed to enhance different aspects of language model performance .
  2. Innovative Methods:

    • TG-SFT (Tree-structured Generation for Structured Fine-Tuning) methodology is introduced for efficient dialogue generation using a backbone LLM. This method involves structured dialogue sequences through a tree-based expansion strategy to create diverse and accurate conversational datasets for model training .
    • Evol-Instruct, an evolutionary algorithm presented by Xu et al., generates diverse and complex instruction data to enhance LLM performance on high-complexity tasks through automated data evolution and fine-tuning .
    • The paper also mentions a targeted and iterative data augmentation strategy by Lee et al., which improves LLM performance in low-data scenarios by generating synthetic data based on incorrect predictions from a student model .
  3. Innovative Ideas:

    • The study by Jang explores the capability of GPT-4 to self-reflect and edit its own generations, suggesting the potential for self-correction and improvement in LLMs without external feedback .
    • Finlayson et al. demonstrate that non-public information about API-protected LLMs can be extracted efficiently from a small number of API queries, emphasizing the need for improved privacy protections in language models .

These new ideas, methods, and models presented in the paper contribute to advancing the capabilities and performance of large language models, offering insights into improving model training, data augmentation, and model self-correction processes. The paper "Preserving Knowledge in Large Language Model: A Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach" introduces a novel method called Tree-Generation (TG) and its variants, TG-SFT, for preserving knowledge within Large Language Models (LLMs) by decompressing knowledge into the training corpus . This approach offers several characteristics and advantages compared to previous methods:

  1. Model-Agnostic Approach:

    • The TG method is designed to be model-agnostic, allowing it to apply to any Large Language Model (LLM) . This flexibility enables the preservation of knowledge across different types of language models, enhancing adaptability and generalizability.
  2. Reduction of Catastrophic Forgetting:

    • By incorporating decompressed data during post-pretraining or supervised fine-tuning (SFT), the TG-SFT approach significantly reduces the issue of catastrophic forgetting in LLMs . This ensures that the model retains old knowledge while learning new information, addressing a common challenge in model training.
  3. Improved Performance:

    • Experimental results demonstrate that the TG algorithm, specifically the TG-SFT approach, is effective in reducing catastrophic forgetting and preserving original knowledge in LLMs . This leads to enhanced performance and mitigates the decline in performance often observed in domain-specific tasks.
  4. Versatility in Training Regimes:

    • The TG method is not only suitable for supervised fine-tuning (SFT) but also for Post-Pretraining, showcasing its versatility across different training regimes . This versatility allows for the application of the TG algorithm in various stages of model training, demonstrating its broad utility.
  5. Control over Data Generation:

    • The tree structure in TG enables flexible control over the speed and diversity of data generation, providing better control of the generation process . This control contributes to the quality and efficiency of data generation, enhancing the overall performance of the model.

In summary, the Tree-Generation (TG) method and its TG-SFT variants offer a model-agnostic, effective, and versatile approach to preserving knowledge in Large Language Models (LLMs) by reducing catastrophic forgetting, improving performance, and providing control over data generation processes. These characteristics and advantages make the TG method a valuable contribution to the field of language model training and development.


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?

Several related research studies exist in the field of large language models. Noteworthy researchers in this field include Everton L. Aleixo, Juan G. Colonna, Marco Cristo, Everlandio Fernandes, Zhangir Azerbayev, Hailey Schoelkopf, Keiran Paster, and many others . The key to the solution mentioned in the paper is the Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach, which focuses on preserving knowledge in large language models through a specific decompression method .


How were the experiments in the paper designed?

The experiments in the paper were designed by selecting specific benchmarks for Model-Agnostic Self-Decompression Approach experiments. The MLLM benchmarks chosen included gqa, textvqa_val, pope, mme, seedbench, mmbench_cn_dev, mmbench_en_dev, scienceqa_img, vqav2_val, vizwiz_vqa_val . For the LLM benchmarks, the experiments utilized arc_challenge (25-shot), gsm8k (5-shot), hellaswag (10-shot), mmlu (5-shot), winogrande (5-shot), truthfulqa (0-shot) . The experiments were conducted using the LLaMA2-chat (7B) model as the baseline for LLM benchmarks, aligning the CLIP vision encoder with LLaMA2-chat for MLLM, and fine-tuning both the LLaMA2-chat model and the projector to obtain the LLaVA model . The training data and configurations strictly followed the LLaVA repository, and specific datasets were used for alignment, fine-tuning, and corpus generation .


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

The dataset used for quantitative evaluation in the study is a set of benchmarks including GQA, MMBench, POPE, SQAI, SEED, TextVQA, VisWiz, and VQAv2 for MLLM benchmarks, and AI2 Reasoning Challenge (ARC), HellaSwag, MMLU, TruthfulQA, Winogrande, and GSM8K for LLM benchmarks . The code used in the study is open source and can be accessed at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/haotian-liu/LLaVA .


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

The experiments and results presented in the paper provide substantial support for the scientific hypotheses that need to be verified. The study conducted a detailed analysis of various methods and benchmarks in the context of large language models (LLMs) . The experiments included evaluating object hallucination in large vision-language models, introducing synthetic data generation techniques, and exploring the impact of different tree configurations and conversation turns on model performance .

The experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of the TG-SFT approach with different tree configurations, showing parameter-insensitivity properties and consistent performance across various settings . Additionally, the study discussed the limitations of the research, such as data leakage risks, exposure to NSFW content, and the need for accurate fact verification in synthetic data . These discussions contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the implications and challenges associated with the experimental results.

Overall, the experiments and results in the paper offer valuable insights and empirical evidence to support the scientific hypotheses under investigation. The thorough exploration of different methodologies, benchmarks, and limitations enhances the credibility and robustness of the study's findings, providing a solid foundation for verifying the scientific hypotheses in the field of large language models.


What are the contributions of this paper?

The paper makes several contributions, including:

  • Introducing a model-agnostic self-decompression approach for preserving knowledge in large language models .
  • Discussing the bridging of distribution gaps in language model fine-tuning through self-distillation .
  • Presenting the Genie model that achieves human parity in content-grounded dataset generation .
  • Providing a survey on multimodal large language models .
  • Introducing Chatdoctor, a medical chat model fine-tuned on the llama model using medical domain knowledge .

What work can be continued in depth?

The work that can be continued in depth involves exploring the specificity and depth in subsequent layers of the dialogue structure. The sizes of subsequent layers can be tailored based on the dialogue depth, with a focus on generating detailed explanations as the discussion delves deeper into specific topics . This setting aims to provide more detailed responses and explanations as the conversation progresses, ensuring comprehensive coverage of specific subjects . Additionally, the token allocation strategy per layer is carefully designed to ensure concise questions and detailed responses, enhancing the efficiency of the generation process .

Tables
2
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