Data Poisoning for In-context Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: He, Pengfei, Xu, Han, Xing, Yue, Liu, Hui, Yamada, Makoto, Tang, Jiliang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author He, Pengfei
Xu, Han
Xing, Yue
Liu, Hui
Yamada, Makoto
Tang, Jiliang
author_facet He, Pengfei
Xu, Han
Xing, Yue
Liu, Hui
Yamada, Makoto
Tang, Jiliang
contents In the domain of large language models (LLMs), in-context learning (ICL) has been recognized for its innovative ability to adapt to new tasks, relying on examples rather than retraining or fine-tuning. This paper delves into the critical issue of ICL's susceptibility to data poisoning attacks, an area not yet fully explored. We wonder whether ICL is vulnerable, with adversaries capable of manipulating example data to degrade model performance. To address this, we introduce ICLPoison, a specialized attacking framework conceived to exploit the learning mechanisms of ICL. Our approach uniquely employs discrete text perturbations to strategically influence the hidden states of LLMs during the ICL process. We outline three representative strategies to implement attacks under our framework, each rigorously evaluated across a variety of models and tasks. Our comprehensive tests, including trials on the sophisticated GPT-4 model, demonstrate that ICL's performance is significantly compromised under our framework. These revelations indicate an urgent need for enhanced defense mechanisms to safeguard the integrity and reliability of LLMs in applications relying on in-context learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_02160
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Data Poisoning for In-context Learning
He, Pengfei
Xu, Han
Xing, Yue
Liu, Hui
Yamada, Makoto
Tang, Jiliang
Cryptography and Security
In the domain of large language models (LLMs), in-context learning (ICL) has been recognized for its innovative ability to adapt to new tasks, relying on examples rather than retraining or fine-tuning. This paper delves into the critical issue of ICL's susceptibility to data poisoning attacks, an area not yet fully explored. We wonder whether ICL is vulnerable, with adversaries capable of manipulating example data to degrade model performance. To address this, we introduce ICLPoison, a specialized attacking framework conceived to exploit the learning mechanisms of ICL. Our approach uniquely employs discrete text perturbations to strategically influence the hidden states of LLMs during the ICL process. We outline three representative strategies to implement attacks under our framework, each rigorously evaluated across a variety of models and tasks. Our comprehensive tests, including trials on the sophisticated GPT-4 model, demonstrate that ICL's performance is significantly compromised under our framework. These revelations indicate an urgent need for enhanced defense mechanisms to safeguard the integrity and reliability of LLMs in applications relying on in-context learning.
title Data Poisoning for In-context Learning
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.02160