A Learning Rate Path Switching Training Paradigm for Version Updates of Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Wang, Zhihao, Liu, Shiyu, Huang, Jianheng, Wang, Zheng, Liao, Yixuan, Chen, Xiaoxin, Yao, Junfeng, Su, Jinsong
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Wang, Zhihao
Liu, Shiyu
Huang, Jianheng
Wang, Zheng
Liao, Yixuan
Chen, Xiaoxin
Yao, Junfeng
Su, Jinsong
author_facet Wang, Zhihao
Liu, Shiyu
Huang, Jianheng
Wang, Zheng
Liao, Yixuan
Chen, Xiaoxin
Yao, Junfeng
Su, Jinsong
contents Due to the continuous emergence of new data, version updates have become an indispensable requirement for Large Language Models (LLMs). The training paradigms for version updates of LLMs include pre-training from scratch (PTFS) and continual pre-training (CPT). Preliminary experiments demonstrate that PTFS achieves better pre-training performance, while CPT has lower training cost. Moreover, their performance and training cost gaps widen progressively with version updates. To investigate the underlying reasons for this phenomenon, we analyze the effect of learning rate adjustments during the two stages of CPT: preparing an initialization checkpoint and continual pre-training based on this checkpoint. We find that a large learning rate in the first stage and a complete learning rate decay process in the second stage are crucial for version updates of LLMs. Hence, we propose a learning rate path switching training paradigm. Our paradigm comprises one main path, where we pre-train a LLM with the maximal learning rate, and multiple branching paths, each of which corresponds to an update of the LLM with newly-added training data. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and generalization of our paradigm. Particularly, when training four versions of LLMs, our paradigm reduces the total training cost to 58% compared to PTFS, while maintaining comparable pre-training performance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_04103
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Learning Rate Path Switching Training Paradigm for Version Updates of Large Language Models
Wang, Zhihao
Liu, Shiyu
Huang, Jianheng
Wang, Zheng
Liao, Yixuan
Chen, Xiaoxin
Yao, Junfeng
Su, Jinsong
Computation and Language
Due to the continuous emergence of new data, version updates have become an indispensable requirement for Large Language Models (LLMs). The training paradigms for version updates of LLMs include pre-training from scratch (PTFS) and continual pre-training (CPT). Preliminary experiments demonstrate that PTFS achieves better pre-training performance, while CPT has lower training cost. Moreover, their performance and training cost gaps widen progressively with version updates. To investigate the underlying reasons for this phenomenon, we analyze the effect of learning rate adjustments during the two stages of CPT: preparing an initialization checkpoint and continual pre-training based on this checkpoint. We find that a large learning rate in the first stage and a complete learning rate decay process in the second stage are crucial for version updates of LLMs. Hence, we propose a learning rate path switching training paradigm. Our paradigm comprises one main path, where we pre-train a LLM with the maximal learning rate, and multiple branching paths, each of which corresponds to an update of the LLM with newly-added training data. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and generalization of our paradigm. Particularly, when training four versions of LLMs, our paradigm reduces the total training cost to 58% compared to PTFS, while maintaining comparable pre-training performance.
title A Learning Rate Path Switching Training Paradigm for Version Updates of Large Language Models
topic Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.04103