The paper introduces PhyloLM, a method that applies phylogenetic algorithms to Large Language Models (LLMs) to explore their finetuning relationships and predict their performance characteristics. By leveraging the phylogenetic distance metric, the authors construct dendrograms that capture distinct LLM families across a set of 77 open-source and 22 closed models.
The key highlights are:
The phylogenetic distance can predict performances on benchmarks like MMLU and ARC, enabling a time and cost-effective estimation of LLM capabilities.
The method is able to trace the genealogy of LLMs, revealing insights into their interconnectedness and evolutionary trajectories. The dendrograms show clear clustering of model families, with finer-grained distinctions within families.
The authors investigate the impact of hyperparameters on the distance matrices, finding a good trade-off between variance and precision. They also demonstrate the robustness of the results across different types of genomes (reasoning vs. coding).
The approach translates genetic concepts to machine learning, offering tools to infer LLM development, relationships, and capabilities, even in the absence of transparent training information. This is particularly valuable for understanding proprietary models.
Overall, the phylogenetic approach provides a novel and insightful way to analyze the history, evolution, and performance of Large Language Models.
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