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| Auteur principal: | |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2025
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| Accès en ligne: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15269 |
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| _version_ | 1866912594285035520 |
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| author | Rocchetti, Elisabetta |
| author_facet | Rocchetti, Elisabetta |
| contents | The process by which Large Language Models (LLMs) acquire complex capabilities during training remains a key open question in mechanistic interpretability. This project investigates whether these learning dynamics can be characterized through the lens of Complex Network Theory (CNT). I introduce a novel methodology to represent a Transformer-based LLM as a directed, weighted graph where nodes are the model's computational components (attention heads and MLPs) and edges represent causal influence, measured via an intervention-based ablation technique. By tracking the evolution of this component-graph across 143 training checkpoints of the Pythia-14M model on a canonical induction task, I analyze a suite of graph-theoretic metrics. The results reveal that the network's structure evolves through distinct phases of exploration, consolidation, and refinement. Specifically, I identify the emergence of a stable hierarchy of information spreader components and a dynamic set of information gatherer components, whose roles reconfigure at key learning junctures. This work demonstrates that a component-level network perspective offers a powerful macroscopic lens for visualizing and understanding the self-organizing principles that drive the formation of functional circuits in LLMs. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_15269 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Modeling Transformers as complex networks to analyze learning dynamics Rocchetti, Elisabetta Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence The process by which Large Language Models (LLMs) acquire complex capabilities during training remains a key open question in mechanistic interpretability. This project investigates whether these learning dynamics can be characterized through the lens of Complex Network Theory (CNT). I introduce a novel methodology to represent a Transformer-based LLM as a directed, weighted graph where nodes are the model's computational components (attention heads and MLPs) and edges represent causal influence, measured via an intervention-based ablation technique. By tracking the evolution of this component-graph across 143 training checkpoints of the Pythia-14M model on a canonical induction task, I analyze a suite of graph-theoretic metrics. The results reveal that the network's structure evolves through distinct phases of exploration, consolidation, and refinement. Specifically, I identify the emergence of a stable hierarchy of information spreader components and a dynamic set of information gatherer components, whose roles reconfigure at key learning junctures. This work demonstrates that a component-level network perspective offers a powerful macroscopic lens for visualizing and understanding the self-organizing principles that drive the formation of functional circuits in LLMs. |
| title | Modeling Transformers as complex networks to analyze learning dynamics |
| topic | Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15269 |