Tool Unlearning for Tool-Augmented LLMs

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Cheng, Jiali, Amiri, Hadi
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Cheng, Jiali
Amiri, Hadi
author_facet Cheng, Jiali
Amiri, Hadi
contents Tool-augmented large language models (LLMs) are often trained on datasets of query-response pairs, which embed the ability to use tools or APIs directly into the parametric knowledge of LLMs. Tool-augmented LLMs need the ability to forget learned tools due to security vulnerabilities, privacy regulations, or tool deprecations. However, ``tool unlearning'' has not been investigated in unlearning literature. We introduce this novel task, which requires addressing distinct challenges compared to traditional unlearning: knowledge removal rather than forgetting individual samples, the high cost of optimizing LLMs, and the need for principled evaluation metrics. To bridge these gaps, we propose ToolDelete, the first approach for unlearning tools from tool-augmented LLMs. It implements three key properties to address the above challenges for effective tool unlearning and introduces a new membership inference attack (MIA) model for effective evaluation. Extensive experiments on multiple tool learning datasets and tool-augmented LLMs show that ToolDelete effectively unlearns randomly selected tools, while preserving the LLM's knowledge on non-deleted tools and maintaining performance on general tasks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_01083
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tool Unlearning for Tool-Augmented LLMs
Cheng, Jiali
Amiri, Hadi
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
Tool-augmented large language models (LLMs) are often trained on datasets of query-response pairs, which embed the ability to use tools or APIs directly into the parametric knowledge of LLMs. Tool-augmented LLMs need the ability to forget learned tools due to security vulnerabilities, privacy regulations, or tool deprecations. However, ``tool unlearning'' has not been investigated in unlearning literature. We introduce this novel task, which requires addressing distinct challenges compared to traditional unlearning: knowledge removal rather than forgetting individual samples, the high cost of optimizing LLMs, and the need for principled evaluation metrics. To bridge these gaps, we propose ToolDelete, the first approach for unlearning tools from tool-augmented LLMs. It implements three key properties to address the above challenges for effective tool unlearning and introduces a new membership inference attack (MIA) model for effective evaluation. Extensive experiments on multiple tool learning datasets and tool-augmented LLMs show that ToolDelete effectively unlearns randomly selected tools, while preserving the LLM's knowledge on non-deleted tools and maintaining performance on general tasks.
title Tool Unlearning for Tool-Augmented LLMs
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.01083