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Main Authors: Zhang, Duzhen, Ren, Yong, Li, Zhong-Zhi, Yu, Yahan, Dong, Jiahua, Li, Chenxing, Ji, Zhilong, Bai, Jinfeng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02041
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author Zhang, Duzhen
Ren, Yong
Li, Zhong-Zhi
Yu, Yahan
Dong, Jiahua
Li, Chenxing
Ji, Zhilong
Bai, Jinfeng
author_facet Zhang, Duzhen
Ren, Yong
Li, Zhong-Zhi
Yu, Yahan
Dong, Jiahua
Li, Chenxing
Ji, Zhilong
Bai, Jinfeng
contents Multimodal Continual Instruction Tuning (MCIT) aims to finetune Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) to continually align with human intent across sequential tasks. Existing approaches often rely on the Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) LoRA framework to preserve previous instruction alignments. However, these methods are prone to Catastrophic Forgetting (CF), as they aggregate all LoRA blocks via simple summation, which compromises performance over time. In this paper, we identify a critical parameter inefficiency in the MoELoRA framework within the MCIT context. Based on this insight, we propose BranchLoRA, an asymmetric framework to enhance both efficiency and performance. To mitigate CF, we introduce a flexible tuning-freezing mechanism within BranchLoRA, enabling branches to specialize in intra-task knowledge while fostering inter-task collaboration. Moreover, we incrementally incorporate task-specific routers to ensure an optimal branch distribution over time, rather than favoring the most recent task. To streamline inference, we introduce a task selector that automatically routes test inputs to the appropriate router without requiring task identity. Extensive experiments on the latest MCIT benchmark demonstrate that BranchLoRA significantly outperforms MoELoRA and maintains its superiority across various MLLM sizes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_02041
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enhancing Multimodal Continual Instruction Tuning with BranchLoRA
Zhang, Duzhen
Ren, Yong
Li, Zhong-Zhi
Yu, Yahan
Dong, Jiahua
Li, Chenxing
Ji, Zhilong
Bai, Jinfeng
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Multimodal Continual Instruction Tuning (MCIT) aims to finetune Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) to continually align with human intent across sequential tasks. Existing approaches often rely on the Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) LoRA framework to preserve previous instruction alignments. However, these methods are prone to Catastrophic Forgetting (CF), as they aggregate all LoRA blocks via simple summation, which compromises performance over time. In this paper, we identify a critical parameter inefficiency in the MoELoRA framework within the MCIT context. Based on this insight, we propose BranchLoRA, an asymmetric framework to enhance both efficiency and performance. To mitigate CF, we introduce a flexible tuning-freezing mechanism within BranchLoRA, enabling branches to specialize in intra-task knowledge while fostering inter-task collaboration. Moreover, we incrementally incorporate task-specific routers to ensure an optimal branch distribution over time, rather than favoring the most recent task. To streamline inference, we introduce a task selector that automatically routes test inputs to the appropriate router without requiring task identity. Extensive experiments on the latest MCIT benchmark demonstrate that BranchLoRA significantly outperforms MoELoRA and maintains its superiority across various MLLM sizes.
title Enhancing Multimodal Continual Instruction Tuning with BranchLoRA
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02041