Knowledge Distillation and Dataset Distillation of Large Language Models: Emerging Trends, Challenges, and Future Directions

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Main Authors: Fang, Luyang, Yu, Xiaowei, Cai, Jiazhang, Chen, Yongkai, Wu, Shushan, Liu, Zhengliang, Yang, Zhenyuan, Lu, Haoran, Gong, Xilin, Liu, Yufang, Ma, Terry, Ruan, Wei, Abbasi, Ali, Zhang, Jing, Wang, Tao, Latif, Ehsan, You, Weihang, Jiang, Hanqi, Liu, Wei, Zhang, Wei, Kolouri, Soheil, Zhai, Xiaoming, Zhu, Dajiang, Zhong, Wenxuan, Liu, Tianming, Ma, Ping
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866908745408184320
author Fang, Luyang
Yu, Xiaowei
Cai, Jiazhang
Chen, Yongkai
Wu, Shushan
Liu, Zhengliang
Yang, Zhenyuan
Lu, Haoran
Gong, Xilin
Liu, Yufang
Ma, Terry
Ruan, Wei
Abbasi, Ali
Zhang, Jing
Wang, Tao
Latif, Ehsan
You, Weihang
Jiang, Hanqi
Liu, Wei
Zhang, Wei
Kolouri, Soheil
Zhai, Xiaoming
Zhu, Dajiang
Zhong, Wenxuan
Liu, Tianming
Ma, Ping
author_facet Fang, Luyang
Yu, Xiaowei
Cai, Jiazhang
Chen, Yongkai
Wu, Shushan
Liu, Zhengliang
Yang, Zhenyuan
Lu, Haoran
Gong, Xilin
Liu, Yufang
Ma, Terry
Ruan, Wei
Abbasi, Ali
Zhang, Jing
Wang, Tao
Latif, Ehsan
You, Weihang
Jiang, Hanqi
Liu, Wei
Zhang, Wei
Kolouri, Soheil
Zhai, Xiaoming
Zhu, Dajiang
Zhong, Wenxuan
Liu, Tianming
Ma, Ping
contents The exponential growth of Large Language Models (LLMs) continues to highlight the need for efficient strategies to meet ever-expanding computational and data demands. This survey provides a comprehensive analysis of two complementary paradigms: Knowledge Distillation (KD) and Dataset Distillation (DD), both aimed at compressing LLMs while preserving their advanced reasoning capabilities and linguistic diversity. We first examine key methodologies in KD, such as task-specific alignment, rationale-based training, and multi-teacher frameworks, alongside DD techniques that synthesize compact, high-impact datasets through optimization-based gradient matching, latent space regularization, and generative synthesis. Building on these foundations, we explore how integrating KD and DD can produce more effective and scalable compression strategies. Together, these approaches address persistent challenges in model scalability, architectural heterogeneity, and the preservation of emergent LLM abilities. We further highlight applications across domains such as healthcare and education, where distillation enables efficient deployment without sacrificing performance. Despite substantial progress, open challenges remain in preserving emergent reasoning and linguistic diversity, enabling efficient adaptation to continually evolving teacher models and datasets, and establishing comprehensive evaluation protocols. By synthesizing methodological innovations, theoretical foundations, and practical insights, our survey charts a path toward sustainable, resource-efficient LLMs through the tighter integration of KD and DD principles.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_14772
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Knowledge Distillation and Dataset Distillation of Large Language Models: Emerging Trends, Challenges, and Future Directions
Fang, Luyang
Yu, Xiaowei
Cai, Jiazhang
Chen, Yongkai
Wu, Shushan
Liu, Zhengliang
Yang, Zhenyuan
Lu, Haoran
Gong, Xilin
Liu, Yufang
Ma, Terry
Ruan, Wei
Abbasi, Ali
Zhang, Jing
Wang, Tao
Latif, Ehsan
You, Weihang
Jiang, Hanqi
Liu, Wei
Zhang, Wei
Kolouri, Soheil
Zhai, Xiaoming
Zhu, Dajiang
Zhong, Wenxuan
Liu, Tianming
Ma, Ping
Computation and Language
Machine Learning
The exponential growth of Large Language Models (LLMs) continues to highlight the need for efficient strategies to meet ever-expanding computational and data demands. This survey provides a comprehensive analysis of two complementary paradigms: Knowledge Distillation (KD) and Dataset Distillation (DD), both aimed at compressing LLMs while preserving their advanced reasoning capabilities and linguistic diversity. We first examine key methodologies in KD, such as task-specific alignment, rationale-based training, and multi-teacher frameworks, alongside DD techniques that synthesize compact, high-impact datasets through optimization-based gradient matching, latent space regularization, and generative synthesis. Building on these foundations, we explore how integrating KD and DD can produce more effective and scalable compression strategies. Together, these approaches address persistent challenges in model scalability, architectural heterogeneity, and the preservation of emergent LLM abilities. We further highlight applications across domains such as healthcare and education, where distillation enables efficient deployment without sacrificing performance. Despite substantial progress, open challenges remain in preserving emergent reasoning and linguistic diversity, enabling efficient adaptation to continually evolving teacher models and datasets, and establishing comprehensive evaluation protocols. By synthesizing methodological innovations, theoretical foundations, and practical insights, our survey charts a path toward sustainable, resource-efficient LLMs through the tighter integration of KD and DD principles.
title Knowledge Distillation and Dataset Distillation of Large Language Models: Emerging Trends, Challenges, and Future Directions
topic Computation and Language
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.14772