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Main Authors: Zhang, Tuo, Yuan, Jinyue, Avestimehr, Salman
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.10276
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author Zhang, Tuo
Yuan, Jinyue
Avestimehr, Salman
author_facet Zhang, Tuo
Yuan, Jinyue
Avestimehr, Salman
contents Numerous recent works aim to enhance the efficacy of Large Language Models (LLMs) through strategic prompting. In particular, the Optimization by PROmpting (OPRO) approach provides state-of-the-art performance by leveraging LLMs as optimizers where the optimization task is to find instructions that maximize the task accuracy. In this paper, we revisit OPRO for automated prompting with relatively small-scale LLMs, such as LLaMa-2 family and Mistral 7B. Our investigation reveals that OPRO shows limited effectiveness in small-scale LLMs, with limited inference capabilities constraining optimization ability. We suggest future automatic prompting engineering to consider both model capabilities and computational costs. Additionally, for small-scale LLMs, we recommend direct instructions that clearly outline objectives and methodologies as robust prompt baselines, ensuring efficient and effective prompt engineering in ongoing research.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_10276
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Revisiting OPRO: The Limitations of Small-Scale LLMs as Optimizers
Zhang, Tuo
Yuan, Jinyue
Avestimehr, Salman
Computation and Language
Human-Computer Interaction
Numerous recent works aim to enhance the efficacy of Large Language Models (LLMs) through strategic prompting. In particular, the Optimization by PROmpting (OPRO) approach provides state-of-the-art performance by leveraging LLMs as optimizers where the optimization task is to find instructions that maximize the task accuracy. In this paper, we revisit OPRO for automated prompting with relatively small-scale LLMs, such as LLaMa-2 family and Mistral 7B. Our investigation reveals that OPRO shows limited effectiveness in small-scale LLMs, with limited inference capabilities constraining optimization ability. We suggest future automatic prompting engineering to consider both model capabilities and computational costs. Additionally, for small-scale LLMs, we recommend direct instructions that clearly outline objectives and methodologies as robust prompt baselines, ensuring efficient and effective prompt engineering in ongoing research.
title Revisiting OPRO: The Limitations of Small-Scale LLMs as Optimizers
topic Computation and Language
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.10276