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Distributed LLM inference over chain of mobile phones (arxiv.org)
3 points by kevinysn on Feb 10, 2024 | hide | past | pdf | 1 comment on HN

In plain words: Instead of cramming a whole language model onto one phone, this system splits it into pieces shared across several trusted phones, passing results along while keeping data on the devices. It ran up to 2.65 times faster than the standard setup it was tested against.

Abstract · LinguaLinked: A Distributed Large Language Model Inference System for Mobile Devices

Deploying Large Language Models (LLMs) locally on mobile devices presents a significant challenge due to their extensive memory requirements. In this paper, we introduce LinguaLinked, a system for decentralized, distributed LLM inference on mobile devices. LinguaLinked enables collaborative execution of the inference task across multiple trusted devices. LinguaLinked ensures data privacy by processing information locally. LinguaLinked uses three key strategies. First, an optimized model assignment technique segments LLMs and uses linear optimization to align segments with each device's capabilities. Second, an optimized data transmission mechanism ensures efficient and structured data flow between model segments while also maintaining the integrity of the original model structure. Finally, LinguaLinked incorporates a runtime load balancer that actively monitors and redistributes tasks among mobile devices to prevent bottlenecks, enhancing the system's overall efficiency and responsiveness. We demonstrate that LinguaLinked facilitates efficient LLM inference while maintaining consistent throughput and minimal latency through extensive testing across various mobile devices, from high-end to low-end Android devices. In our evaluations, compared to the baseline, LinguaLinked achieves an inference performance acceleration of $1.11\times$ to $1.61\times$ in single-threaded settings, $1.73\times$ to $2.65\times$ with multi-threading. Additionally, runtime load balancing yields an overall inference acceleration of $1.29\times$ to $1.32\times$.

Junchen Zhao, Yurun Song, Simeng Liu, Ian G. Harris, Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi
arXiv:2312.00388 · cs.LG, cs.DC, cs.NI · submitted Dec 1, 2023
abstract · pdf · html · 16 pages, 8 figures

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I recently saw this paper: LinguaLinked: A Distributed Large Language Model Inference System for Mobile Devices.

The authors claim that they solved the LLM memory issue on phones by chaining a bunch of Android phones together to run the LLMs through splitting the LLM to each of the Android phones. This idea actually is kind of interesting but I think a big issue of this approach is that if the LLM cannot be fitted into a single phone, why they don't go to the edge-server setting?

What do you think and do you think there is any potential real-world usecase for this work?