On the Robustness of Editing Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ma, Xinbei, Ju, Tianjie, Qiu, Jiyang, Zhang, Zhuosheng, Zhao, Hai, Liu, Lifeng, Wang, Yulong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Ma, Xinbei
Ju, Tianjie
Qiu, Jiyang
Zhang, Zhuosheng
Zhao, Hai
Liu, Lifeng
Wang, Yulong
author_facet Ma, Xinbei
Ju, Tianjie
Qiu, Jiyang
Zhang, Zhuosheng
Zhao, Hai
Liu, Lifeng
Wang, Yulong
contents Large language models (LLMs) have played a pivotal role in building communicative AI, yet they encounter the challenge of efficient updates. Model editing enables the manipulation of specific knowledge memories and the behavior of language generation without retraining. However, the robustness of model editing remains an open question. This work seeks to understand the strengths and limitations of editing methods, facilitating practical applications of communicative AI. We focus on three key research questions. RQ1: Can edited LLMs behave consistently resembling communicative AI in realistic situations? RQ2: To what extent does the rephrasing of prompts lead LLMs to deviate from the edited knowledge memory? RQ3: Which knowledge features are correlated with the performance and robustness of editing? Our empirical studies uncover a substantial disparity between existing editing methods and the practical application of LLMs. On rephrased prompts that are flexible but common in realistic applications, the performance of editing experiences a significant decline. Further analysis shows that more popular knowledge is memorized better, easier to recall, and more challenging to edit effectively. Code is publicly available at https://github.com/xbmxb/edit_analysis .
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_05827
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the Robustness of Editing Large Language Models
Ma, Xinbei
Ju, Tianjie
Qiu, Jiyang
Zhang, Zhuosheng
Zhao, Hai
Liu, Lifeng
Wang, Yulong
Computation and Language
Large language models (LLMs) have played a pivotal role in building communicative AI, yet they encounter the challenge of efficient updates. Model editing enables the manipulation of specific knowledge memories and the behavior of language generation without retraining. However, the robustness of model editing remains an open question. This work seeks to understand the strengths and limitations of editing methods, facilitating practical applications of communicative AI. We focus on three key research questions. RQ1: Can edited LLMs behave consistently resembling communicative AI in realistic situations? RQ2: To what extent does the rephrasing of prompts lead LLMs to deviate from the edited knowledge memory? RQ3: Which knowledge features are correlated with the performance and robustness of editing? Our empirical studies uncover a substantial disparity between existing editing methods and the practical application of LLMs. On rephrased prompts that are flexible but common in realistic applications, the performance of editing experiences a significant decline. Further analysis shows that more popular knowledge is memorized better, easier to recall, and more challenging to edit effectively. Code is publicly available at https://github.com/xbmxb/edit_analysis .
title On the Robustness of Editing Large Language Models
topic Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.05827