pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Talking Models: Distill Pre-trained Knowledge to Downstream Models via Interactive Communication
Authors: Zhe Zhao, Qingyun Liu, Huan Gui, Bang An, Lichan Hong, Ed H. Chi
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Decoder, Knowledge Distillation, Transfer Learning

Many recent breakthroughs in machine learning have been enabled by the pre-trained foundation models. By scaling up model parameters, training data, and computation resources, foundation models have significantly advanced the state-of-the-art in many applications. However, it is still an open question of how to use these models to perform downstream tasks efficiently. Knowledge distillation (KD) has been explored to tackle this challenge. KD transfers knowledge from a large teacher model to a smaller student model. While KD has been successful in improving student model performance, recent research has discovered that a powerful teacher does not necessarily lead to a powerful student, due to their huge capacity gap. In addition, the potential distribution shifts between the pre-training data and downstream tasks can make knowledge transfer in KD sub-optimal for improving downstream task performance. In this paper, we extend KD with an interactive communication process to help students of downstream tasks learn effectively from pre-trained foundation models. Our design is inspired by the way humans learn from teachers who can explain knowledge in a way that meets the students' needs. Specifically, we let each model (i.e., student and teacher) train two components: (1) an encoder encoding the model's hidden states to a message and (2) a decoder decoding any messages to its own hidden states. With encoder and decoder, not only can the teacher transfer rich information by encoding its hidden states, but also the student can send messages with information of downstream tasks to the teacher. Therefore, knowledge passing from teacher to student can be tailored to the student's capacity and downstream tasks' distributions. We conducted experiments on benchmark datasets to show that our communication mechanism outperforms state-of-the-art distillation techniques.
Inferring Inference
Authors: Rajkumar Vasudeva Raju, Zhe Li, Scott Linderman, Xaq Pitkow
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Experimental Design

Patterns of microcircuitry suggest that the brain has an array of repeated canonical computational units. Yet neural representations are distributed, so the relevant computations may only be related indirectly to single-neuron transformations. It thus remains an open challenge how to define canonical distributed computations. We integrate normative and algorithmic theories of neural computation into a mathematical framework for inferring canonical distributed computations from large-scale neural activity patterns. At the normative level, we hypothesize that the brain creates a structured internal model of its environment, positing latent causes that explain its sensory inputs, and uses those sensory inputs to infer the latent causes. At the algorithmic level, we propose that this inference process is a nonlinear message-passing algorithm on a graph-structured model of the world. Given a time series of neural activity during a perceptual inference task, our framework finds (i) the neural representation of relevant latent variables, (ii) interactions between these variables that define the brain's internal model of the world, and (iii) message-functions specifying the inference algorithm. These targeted computational properties are then statistically distinguishable due to the symmetries inherent in any canonical computation, up to a global transformation. As a demonstration, we simulate recordings for a model brain that implicitly implements an approximate inference algorithm on a probabilistic graphical model. Given its external inputs and noisy neural activity, we recover the latent variables, their neural representation and dynamics, and canonical message-functions. We highlight features of experimental design needed to successfully extract canonical computations from neural data. Overall, this framework provides a new tool for discovering interpretable structure in neural recordings.
Misusing Tools in Large Language Models With Visual Adversarial Examples
Authors: Xiaohan Fu, Zihan Wang, Shuheng Li, Rajesh K. Gupta, Niloofar Mireshghallah, Taylor Berg-Kirkpatrick, Earlence Fernandes
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: SSIM

Large Language Models (LLMs) are being enhanced with the ability to use tools and to process multiple modalities. These new capabilities bring new benefits and also new security risks. In this work, we show that an attacker can use visual adversarial examples to cause attacker-desired tool usage. For example, the attacker could cause a victim LLM to delete calendar events, leak private conversations and book hotels. Different from prior work, our attacks can affect the confidentiality and integrity of user resources connected to the LLM while being stealthy and generalizable to multiple input prompts. We construct these attacks using gradient-based adversarial training and characterize performance along multiple dimensions. We find that our adversarial images can manipulate the LLM to invoke tools following real-world syntax almost always (~98%) while maintaining high similarity to clean images (~0.9 SSIM). Furthermore, using human scoring and automated metrics, we find that the attacks do not noticeably affect the conversation (and its semantics) between the user and the LLM.
Neural architecture impact on identifying temporally extended Reinforcement Learning tasks
Authors: Victor Vadakechirayath George
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Deep Reinforcement Learning, image-classification, Image Classification, OpenAI Gym, reinforcement-learning, Reinforcement Learning, Reinforcement Learning (RL), Video Classification

Inspired by recent developments in attention models for image classification and natural language processing, we present various Attention based architectures in reinforcement learning (RL) domain, capable of performing well on OpenAI Gym Atari-2600 game suite. In spite of the recent success of Deep Reinforcement learning techniques in various fields like robotics, gaming and healthcare, they suffer from a major drawback that neural networks are difficult to interpret. We try to get around this problem with the help of Attention based models. In Attention based models, extracting and overlaying of attention map onto images allows for direct observation of information used by agent to select actions and easier interpretation of logic behind the chosen actions. Our models in addition to playing well on gym-Atari environments, also provide insights on how agent perceives its environment. In addition, motivated by recent developments in attention based video-classification models using Vision Transformer, we come up with an architecture based on Vision Transformer, for image-based RL domain too. Compared to previous works in Vision Transformer, our model is faster to train and requires fewer computational resources. 3
Assessment of Prediction Intervals Using Uncertainty Characteristics Curves
Authors: Jiri Navratil, Benjamin Elder, Matthew Arnold, Soumya Ghosh, Prasanna Sattigeri
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Prediction, Prediction Intervals, Uncertainty Quantification

Accurate quantification of model uncertainty has long been recognized as a fundamental requirement for trusted AI. In regression tasks, uncertainty is typically quantified using prediction intervals calibrated to an ad-hoc operating point, making evaluation and comparison across different studies relatively difficult. Our work leverages: (1) the concept of operating characteristics curves and (2) the notion of a gain over a null reference, to derive a novel operating point agnostic assessment methodology for prediction intervals. The paper defines the Uncertainty Characteristics Curve and demonstrates its utility in selected scenarios. We argue that the proposed method addresses the current need for comprehensive assessment of prediction intervals and thus represents a valuable addition to the uncertainty quantification toolbox.
Attributing Learned Concepts in Neural Networks to Training Data
Authors: Nicholas Konz, Charles Godfrey, Madelyn Shapiro, Jonathan Tu, Henry Kvinge, Davis Brown
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00

By now there is substantial evidence that deep learning models learn certain human-interpretable features as part of their internal representations of data. As having the right (or wrong) concepts is critical to trustworthy machine learning systems, it is natural to ask which inputs from the model's original training set were most important for learning a concept at a given layer. To answer this, we combine data attribution methods with methods for probing the concepts learned by a model. Training network and probe ensembles for two concept datasets on a range of network layers, we use the recently developed TRAK method for large-scale data attribution. We find some evidence for convergence, where removing the 10,000 top attributing images for a concept and retraining the model does not change the location of the concept in the network nor the probing sparsity of the concept. This suggests that rather than being highly dependent on a few specific examples, the features that inform the development of a concept are spread in a more diffuse manner across its exemplars, implying robustness in concept formation.
Efficient Federated Prompt Tuning for Black-box Large Pre-trained Models
Authors: Zihao Lin, Yan Sun, Yifan Shi, Xueqian Wang, Lifu Huang, Li Shen, DaCheng Tao
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00

With the blowout development of pre-trained models (PTMs), the efficient tuning of these models for diverse downstream applications has emerged as a pivotal research concern. Although recent investigations into prompt tuning have provided promising avenues, three salient challenges persist: (1) memory constraint: the continuous growth in the size of open-source PTMs renders fine-tuning, even a fraction of their parameters, challenging for many practitioners. (2) model privacy: existing PTMs often function as public API services, with their parameters inaccessible for effective or tailored fine-tuning. (3) data privacy: the fine-tuning of PTMs necessitates high-quality datasets, which are typically localized and not shared to public. To optimally harness each local dataset while navigating memory constraints and preserving privacy, we propose Federated Black-Box Prompt Tuning (Fed-BBPT). This innovative approach eschews reliance on parameter architectures and private dataset access, instead capitalizing on a central server that aids local users in collaboratively training a prompt generator through regular aggregation. Local users leverage API-driven learning via a zero-order optimizer, obviating the need for PTM deployment. Relative to extensive fine-tuning, Fed-BBPT proficiently sidesteps memory challenges tied to PTM storage and fine-tuning on local machines, tapping into comprehensive, high-quality, yet private training datasets. A thorough evaluation across 40 datasets spanning CV and NLP tasks underscores the robustness of our proposed model.
Large Language Model Cascades with Mixture of Thoughts Representations for Cost-efficient Reasoning
Authors: Murong Yue, Jie Zhao, Min Zhang, Liang Du, Ziyu Yao
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Decision Making, Language Modeling, Language Modelling, Large Language Model

Large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 have exhibited remarkable performance in a variety of tasks, but this strong performance often comes with the high expense of using paid API services. In this paper, we are motivated to study building an LLM cascade to save the cost of using LLMs, particularly for performing reasoning (e.g., mathematical, causal) tasks. Our cascade pipeline follows the intuition that simpler questions can be addressed by a weaker but more affordable LLM, whereas only the challenging questions necessitate the stronger and more expensive LLM. To realize this decision-making, we consider the "answer consistency" of the weaker LLM as a signal of the question difficulty and propose several methods for the answer sampling and consistency checking, including one leveraging a mixture of two thought representations (i.e., Chain-of-Thought and Program-of-Thought). Through experiments on six reasoning benchmark datasets, with GPT-3.5-turbo and GPT-4 being the weaker and stronger LLMs, respectively, we demonstrate that our proposed LLM cascades can achieve performance comparable to using solely the stronger LLM but require only 40% of its cost.
Discovering Knowledge-Critical Subnetworks in Pretrained Language Models
Authors: Deniz Bayazit, Negar Foroutan, Zeming Chen, Gail Weiss, Antoine Bosselut
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Language Modelling

Pretrained language models (LMs) encode implicit representations of knowledge in their parameters. However, localizing these representations and disentangling them from each other remains an open problem. In this work, we investigate whether pretrained language models contain various knowledge-critical subnetworks: particular sparse computational subgraphs that can, if removed, precisely suppress specific knowledge the model has memorized. We propose a multi-objective differentiable masking scheme that can be applied to both weights and neurons to discover such subnetworks and show that we can use them to precisely remove specific knowledge from models while minimizing adverse effects on the behavior of the original model. We demonstrate our method on multiple GPT2 variants, uncovering highly sparse subnetworks (98%+ sparsity) that are critical for expressing specific collections of relational knowledge. When these subnetworks are removed, the remaining network maintains most of its initial abilities but struggles to represent the suppressed knowledge.
Modified LAB Algorithm with Clustering-based Search Space Reduction Method for solving Engineering Design Problems
Authors: Ruturaj Reddy, Utkarsh Gupta, Ishaan Kale, Apoorva Shastri, Anand J Kulkarni
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00

A modified LAB algorithm is introduced in this paper. It builds upon the original LAB algorithm (Reddy et al. 2023), which is a socio-inspired algorithm that models competitive and learning behaviours within a group, establishing hierarchical roles. The proposed algorithm incorporates the roulette wheel approach and a reduction factor introducing inter-group competition and iteratively narrowing down the sample space. The algorithm is validated by solving the benchmark test problems from CEC 2005 and CEC 2017. The solutions are validated using standard statistical tests such as two-sided and pairwise signed rank Wilcoxon test and Friedman rank test. The algorithm exhibited improved and superior robustness as well as search space exploration capabilities. Furthermore, a Clustering-Based Search Space Reduction (C-SSR) method is proposed, making the algorithm capable to solve constrained problems. The C-SSR method enables the algorithm to identify clusters of feasible regions, satisfying the constraints and contributing to achieve the optimal solution. This method demonstrates its effectiveness as a potential alternative to traditional constraint handling techniques. The results obtained using the Modified LAB algorithm are then compared with those achieved by other recent metaheuristic algorithms.
Memoria: Resolving Fateful Forgetting Problem through Human-Inspired Memory Architecture
Authors: Sangjun Park, JinYeong Bak
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Language Modeling, Language Modelling, text-classification, Text Classification

Making neural networks remember over the long term has been a longstanding issue. Although several external memory techniques have been introduced, most focus on retaining recent information in the short term. Regardless of its importance, information tends to be fatefully forgotten over time. We present Memoria, a memory system for artificial neural networks, drawing inspiration from humans and applying various neuroscientific and psychological theories. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of Memoria in the diverse tasks of sorting, language modeling, and classification, surpassing conventional techniques. Engram analysis reveals that Memoria exhibits the primacy, recency, and temporal contiguity effects which are characteristics of human memory.
How FaR Are Large Language Models From Agents with Theory-of-Mind?
Authors: Pei Zhou, Aman Madaan, Srividya Pranavi Potharaju, Aditya Gupta, Kevin R. McKee, Ari Holtzman, Jay Pujara, Xiang Ren, Swaroop Mishra, Aida Nematzadeh, Shyam Upadhyay, Manaal Faruqui
Date: 2023-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: In-Context Learning, Question Answering

"Thinking is for Doing." Humans can infer other people's mental states from observations--an ability called Theory-of-Mind (ToM)--and subsequently act pragmatically on those inferences. Existing question answering benchmarks such as ToMi ask models questions to make inferences about beliefs of characters in a story, but do not test whether models can then use these inferences to guide their actions. We propose a new evaluation paradigm for large language models (LLMs): Thinking for Doing (T4D), which requires models to connect inferences about others' mental states to actions in social scenarios. Experiments on T4D demonstrate that LLMs such as GPT-4 and PaLM 2 seemingly excel at tracking characters' beliefs in stories, but they struggle to translate this capability into strategic action. Our analysis reveals the core challenge for LLMs lies in identifying the implicit inferences about mental states without being explicitly asked about as in ToMi, that lead to choosing the correct action in T4D. To bridge this gap, we introduce a zero-shot prompting framework, Foresee and Reflect (FaR), which provides a reasoning structure that encourages LLMs to anticipate future challenges and reason about potential actions. FaR boosts GPT-4's performance from 50% to 71% on T4D, outperforming other prompting methods such as Chain-of-Thought and Self-Ask. Moreover, FaR generalizes to diverse out-of-distribution story structures and scenarios that also require ToM inferences to choose an action, consistently outperforming other methods including few-shot in-context learning.
EcoAssistant: Using LLM Assistant More Affordably and Accurately
Authors: Jieyu Zhang, Ranjay Krishna, Ahmed H. Awadallah, Chi Wang
Date: 2023-10-03 00:00:00

Today, users ask Large language models (LLMs) as assistants to answer queries that require external knowledge; they ask about the weather in a specific city, about stock prices, and even about where specific locations are within their neighborhood. These queries require the LLM to produce code that invokes external APIs to answer the user's question, yet LLMs rarely produce correct code on the first try, requiring iterative code refinement upon execution results. In addition, using LLM assistants to support high query volumes can be expensive. In this work, we contribute a framework, EcoAssistant, that enables LLMs to answer code-driven queries more affordably and accurately. EcoAssistant contains three components. First, it allows the LLM assistants to converse with an automatic code executor to iteratively refine code or to produce answers based on the execution results. Second, we use a hierarchy of LLM assistants, which attempts to answer the query with weaker, cheaper LLMs before backing off to stronger, expensive ones. Third, we retrieve solutions from past successful queries as in-context demonstrations to help subsequent queries. Empirically, we show that EcoAssistant offers distinct advantages for affordability and accuracy, surpassing GPT-4 by 10 points of success rate with less than 50% of GPT-4's cost.
ContactGen: Generative Contact Modeling for Grasp Generation
Authors: Shaowei Liu, Yang Zhou, Jimei Yang, Saurabh Gupta, Shenlong Wang
Date: 2023-10-05 00:00:00
Proceeding: ICCV 2023 1
Tasks: Grasp Generation, Object

This paper presents a novel object-centric contact representation ContactGen for hand-object interaction. The ContactGen comprises three components: a contact map indicates the contact location, a part map represents the contact hand part, and a direction map tells the contact direction within each part. Given an input object, we propose a conditional generative model to predict ContactGen and adopt model-based optimization to predict diverse and geometrically feasible grasps. Experimental results demonstrate our method can generate high-fidelity and diverse human grasps for various objects. Project page: https://stevenlsw.github.io/contactgen/
Robust Novelty Detection through Style-Conscious Feature Ranking
Authors: Stefan Smeu, Elena Burceanu, Emanuela Haller, Andrei Liviu Nicolicioiu
Date: 2023-10-05 00:00:00
Tasks: Domain Generalization, Novelty Detection, Out-of-Distribution Generalization

Novelty detection seeks to identify samples deviating from a known distribution, yet data shifts in a multitude of ways, and only a few consist of relevant changes. Aligned with out-of-distribution generalization literature, we advocate for a formal distinction between task-relevant semantic or content changes and irrelevant style changes. This distinction forms the basis for robust novelty detection, emphasizing the identification of semantic changes resilient to style distributional shifts. To this end, we introduce Stylist, a method that utilizes pretrained large-scale model representations to selectively discard environment-biased features. By computing per-feature scores based on feature distribution distances between environments, Stylist effectively eliminates features responsible for spurious correlations, enhancing novelty detection performance. Evaluations on adapted domain generalization datasets and a synthetic dataset demonstrate Stylist's efficacy in improving novelty detection across diverse datasets with stylistic and content shifts. The code is available at https://github.com/bit-ml/Stylist.
Leveraging Unpaired Data for Vision-Language Generative Models via Cycle Consistency
Authors: Tianhong Li, Sangnie Bhardwaj, Yonglong Tian, Han Zhang, Jarred Barber, Dina Katabi, Guillaume Lajoie, Huiwen Chang, Dilip Krishnan
Date: 2023-10-05 00:00:00
Tasks: Image Generation, Image to text, Text to Image Generation, Text-to-Image Generation

Current vision-language generative models rely on expansive corpora of paired image-text data to attain optimal performance and generalization capabilities. However, automatically collecting such data (e.g. via large-scale web scraping) leads to low quality and poor image-text correlation, while human annotation is more accurate but requires significant manual effort and expense. We introduce $\textbf{ITIT}$ ($\textbf{I}$n$\textbf{T}$egrating $\textbf{I}$mage $\textbf{T}$ext): an innovative training paradigm grounded in the concept of cycle consistency which allows vision-language training on unpaired image and text data. ITIT is comprised of a joint image-text encoder with disjoint image and text decoders that enable bidirectional image-to-text and text-to-image generation in a single framework. During training, ITIT leverages a small set of paired image-text data to ensure its output matches the input reasonably well in both directions. Simultaneously, the model is also trained on much larger datasets containing only images or texts. This is achieved by enforcing cycle consistency between the original unpaired samples and the cycle-generated counterparts. For instance, it generates a caption for a given input image and then uses the caption to create an output image, and enforces similarity between the input and output images. Our experiments show that ITIT with unpaired datasets exhibits similar scaling behavior as using high-quality paired data. We demonstrate image generation and captioning performance on par with state-of-the-art text-to-image and image-to-text models with orders of magnitude fewer (only 3M) paired image-text data.