Spike-driven Large Language Model

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Xu, Han, Qiu, Xuerui, Chen, Baiyu, Luo, Xinhao, Xing, Xingrun, Zhang, Jiahong, Lei, Bo, Huang, Tiejun, Xu, Bo, Li, Guoqi
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Xu, Han
Qiu, Xuerui
Chen, Baiyu
Luo, Xinhao
Xing, Xingrun
Zhang, Jiahong
Lei, Bo
Huang, Tiejun
Xu, Bo
Li, Guoqi
author_facet Xu, Han
Qiu, Xuerui
Chen, Baiyu
Luo, Xinhao
Xing, Xingrun
Zhang, Jiahong
Lei, Bo
Huang, Tiejun
Xu, Bo
Li, Guoqi
contents Current Large Language Models (LLMs) are primarily based on large-scale dense matrix multiplications. Inspired by the brain's information processing mechanism, we explore the fundamental question: how to effectively integrate the brain's spiking-driven characteristics into LLM inference. Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) possess spike-driven characteristics, and some works have attempted to combine SNNs with Transformers. However, achieving spike-driven LLMs with billions of parameters, relying solely on sparse additions, remains a challenge in the SNN field. To address the issues of limited representational capacity and sparsity in existing spike encoding schemes at the LLM level, we propose SDLLM, a spike-driven large language model that eliminates dense matrix multiplications through sparse addition operations. Specifically, we use the plug-and-play gamma-SQP two-step spike encoding method to ensure that the quantization process aligns with the model's semantic space, mitigating representation degradation caused by binary spikes. Furthermore, we introduce bidirectional encoding under symmetric quantization and membrane potential clipping mechanisms, leading to spike trains with no or low firing counts dominating, significantly reducing the model's spike firing rate, while halving the number of time steps. Experimental results show that SDLLM not only significantly reduces inference costs but also achieves state-of-the-art task performance under the spike-based paradigm. For example, compared to previous spike-based LLMs, SDLLM reduces energy consumption by 7x and improves accuracy by 4.2%. Our model provides inspiration for the architecture design of the next generation of event-driven neuromorphic chips.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_16475
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spike-driven Large Language Model
Xu, Han
Qiu, Xuerui
Chen, Baiyu
Luo, Xinhao
Xing, Xingrun
Zhang, Jiahong
Lei, Bo
Huang, Tiejun
Xu, Bo
Li, Guoqi
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Current Large Language Models (LLMs) are primarily based on large-scale dense matrix multiplications. Inspired by the brain's information processing mechanism, we explore the fundamental question: how to effectively integrate the brain's spiking-driven characteristics into LLM inference. Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) possess spike-driven characteristics, and some works have attempted to combine SNNs with Transformers. However, achieving spike-driven LLMs with billions of parameters, relying solely on sparse additions, remains a challenge in the SNN field. To address the issues of limited representational capacity and sparsity in existing spike encoding schemes at the LLM level, we propose SDLLM, a spike-driven large language model that eliminates dense matrix multiplications through sparse addition operations. Specifically, we use the plug-and-play gamma-SQP two-step spike encoding method to ensure that the quantization process aligns with the model's semantic space, mitigating representation degradation caused by binary spikes. Furthermore, we introduce bidirectional encoding under symmetric quantization and membrane potential clipping mechanisms, leading to spike trains with no or low firing counts dominating, significantly reducing the model's spike firing rate, while halving the number of time steps. Experimental results show that SDLLM not only significantly reduces inference costs but also achieves state-of-the-art task performance under the spike-based paradigm. For example, compared to previous spike-based LLMs, SDLLM reduces energy consumption by 7x and improves accuracy by 4.2%. Our model provides inspiration for the architecture design of the next generation of event-driven neuromorphic chips.
title Spike-driven Large Language Model
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16475