Related papers: Learning a Zeroth-Order Optimizer for Fine-Tuning …
In this work, we evaluate 10 open-source instructed LLMs on four representative code comprehension and generation tasks. We have the following main findings. First, for the zero-shot setting, instructed LLMs are very competitive on code…
We study the problem of fine-tuning a language model (LM) for a target task by optimally using the information from $n$ auxiliary tasks. This problem has broad applications in NLP, such as targeted instruction tuning and data selection in…
In many real-world problems, first-order (FO) derivative evaluations are too expensive or even inaccessible. For solving these problems, zeroth-order (ZO) methods that only need function evaluations are often more efficient than FO methods…
Optimizing large-scale nonconvex problems, common in deep learning, demands balancing rapid convergence with computational efficiency. First-order (FO) optimizers, which serve as today's baselines, provide fast convergence and good…
We study stochastic zeroth-order (ZO) optimization of smooth nonconvex objectives under heavy-tailed sample-gradient noise. This regime is motivated by empirical evidence that gradient noise in modern machine learning can violate the…
Prompt learning has become a key method for adapting large language models to specific tasks with limited data. However, traditional gradient-based optimization methods for tuning prompts are computationally intensive, posing challenges for…
Combinatorial optimization (CO) problems, central to decision-making scenarios like logistics and manufacturing, are traditionally solved using problem-specific algorithms requiring significant domain expertise. While large language models…
To solve unmodeled optimization problems with hard constraints, this paper proposes a novel zeroth-order approach called Safe Zeroth-order Optimization using Linear Programs (SZO-LP). The SZO-LP method solves a linear program in each…
Zeroth-order methods are extensively used in machine learning applications where gradients are infeasible or expensive to compute, such as black-box attacks, reinforcement learning, and language model fine-tuning. Existing optimization…
In modern deep learning, the models are learned by applying gradient updates using an optimizer, which transforms the updates based on various statistics. Optimizers are often hand-designed and tuning their hyperparameters is a big part of…
We study robust parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) techniques designed to improve accuracy and generalization while operating within strict computational and memory hardware constraints, specifically focusing on large-language models…
Pre-training Large Language Models (LLMs) on web-scale datasets becomes fundamental for advancing general-purpose AI. In contrast, enhancing their predictive performance on downstream tasks typically involves adapting their knowledge…
Training large language models (LLMs) relies on adaptive optimizers such as Adam, which introduce extra operations and require significantly more memory to maintain first- and second-order moments than SGD. While recent works such as…
The integration of large language models (LLMs) into automated algorithm design has shown promising potential. A prevalent approach embeds LLMs within search routines to iteratively generate and refine candidate algorithms. However, most…
We study the problem of training neural networks with quantized parameters. Learning low-precision quantized parameters by enabling computation of gradients via the Straight-Through Estimator (STE) can be challenging. While the STE enables…
Fast gradient-based optimization algorithms have become increasingly essential for the computationally efficient training of machine learning models. One technique is to multiply the gradient by a preconditioner matrix to produce a step,…
This paper introduces an efficient strategy to transform Large Language Models (LLMs) into Multi-Modal Large Language Models (MLLMs). By conceptualizing this transformation as a domain adaptation process, i.e., transitioning from text…
On-device fine-tuning is a critical capability for edge AI systems, which must support adaptation to different agentic tasks under stringent memory constraints. Conventional backpropagation (BP)-based training requires storing layer…
Fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) has become essential for adapting pretrained models to specific downstream tasks. In this paper, we propose Linear Chain Transformation (LinChain), a novel approach that introduces a sequence of…
Using Large Language Models (LLMs) in real-world applications presents significant challenges, particularly in balancing computational efficiency with model performance. Optimizing acceleration after fine-tuning and during inference is…