about
Thermometer: Towards Universal Calibration for Large Language Models (arxiv.org)
1 point by PaulHoule on Mar 25, 2024 | hide | past | pdf | discuss on HN

In plain words: A helper model trained on many tasks adjusts the confidence scores a language model gives its answers, so they can be trusted without retraining it. It keeps accuracy intact, unlike retraining the model itself, and makes confidence better matched to reality on new tasks.

Abstract

We consider the issue of calibration in large language models (LLM). Recent studies have found that common interventions such as instruction tuning often result in poorly calibrated LLMs. Although calibration is well-explored in traditional applications, calibrating LLMs is uniquely challenging. These challenges stem as much from the severe computational requirements of LLMs as from their versatility, which allows them to be applied to diverse tasks. Addressing these challenges, we propose THERMOMETER, a calibration approach tailored to LLMs. THERMOMETER learns an auxiliary model, given data from multiple tasks, for calibrating a LLM. It is computationally efficient, preserves the accuracy of the LLM, and produces better-calibrated responses for new tasks. Extensive empirical evaluations across various benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Maohao Shen, Subhro Das, Kristjan Greenewald, Prasanna Sattigeri, Gregory Wornell, Soumya Ghosh
arXiv:2403.08819 · cs.LG, cs.CL, stat.ML · submitted Feb 20, 2024 · updated Jun 27, 2024
abstract · pdf · html · Camera ready version for ICML 2024

add comment on HN