Verbalized Machine Learning: Revisiting Machine Learning with Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Xiao, Tim Z., Bamler, Robert, Schölkopf, Bernhard, Liu, Weiyang
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Xiao, Tim Z.
Bamler, Robert
Schölkopf, Bernhard
Liu, Weiyang
author_facet Xiao, Tim Z.
Bamler, Robert
Schölkopf, Bernhard
Liu, Weiyang
contents Motivated by the progress made by large language models (LLMs), we introduce the framework of verbalized machine learning (VML). In contrast to conventional machine learning (ML) models that are typically optimized over a continuous parameter space, VML constrains the parameter space to be human-interpretable natural language. Such a constraint leads to a new perspective of function approximation, where an LLM with a text prompt can be viewed as a function parameterized by the text prompt. Guided by this perspective, we revisit classical ML problems, such as regression and classification, and find that these problems can be solved by an LLM-parameterized learner and optimizer. The major advantages of VML include (1) easy encoding of inductive bias: prior knowledge about the problem and hypothesis class can be encoded in natural language and fed into the LLM-parameterized learner; (2) automatic model class selection: the optimizer can automatically select a model class based on data and verbalized prior knowledge, and it can update the model class during training; and (3) interpretable learner updates: the LLM-parameterized optimizer can provide explanations for why an update is performed. We empirically verify the effectiveness of VML, and hope that VML can serve as a stepping stone to stronger interpretability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_04344
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Verbalized Machine Learning: Revisiting Machine Learning with Language Models
Xiao, Tim Z.
Bamler, Robert
Schölkopf, Bernhard
Liu, Weiyang
Machine Learning
Computation and Language
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Motivated by the progress made by large language models (LLMs), we introduce the framework of verbalized machine learning (VML). In contrast to conventional machine learning (ML) models that are typically optimized over a continuous parameter space, VML constrains the parameter space to be human-interpretable natural language. Such a constraint leads to a new perspective of function approximation, where an LLM with a text prompt can be viewed as a function parameterized by the text prompt. Guided by this perspective, we revisit classical ML problems, such as regression and classification, and find that these problems can be solved by an LLM-parameterized learner and optimizer. The major advantages of VML include (1) easy encoding of inductive bias: prior knowledge about the problem and hypothesis class can be encoded in natural language and fed into the LLM-parameterized learner; (2) automatic model class selection: the optimizer can automatically select a model class based on data and verbalized prior knowledge, and it can update the model class during training; and (3) interpretable learner updates: the LLM-parameterized optimizer can provide explanations for why an update is performed. We empirically verify the effectiveness of VML, and hope that VML can serve as a stepping stone to stronger interpretability.
title Verbalized Machine Learning: Revisiting Machine Learning with Language Models
topic Machine Learning
Computation and Language
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.04344