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Algorithmic Language Models with Neurally Compiled Libraries (arxiv.org)
1 point by wseqyrku on Jan 3, 2025 | hide | past | pdf | discuss on HN

In plain words: A language model gets a built-in toolkit of operations, memory, and loops, so algorithms come pre-installed instead of learned from scratch. Algorithms are written into a starter library that trains alongside the model; early tests on simple tasks with varying lengths show it works.

Abstract

Important tasks such as reasoning and planning are fundamentally algorithmic, meaning that solving them robustly requires acquiring true reasoning or planning algorithms, rather than shortcuts. Large Language Models lack true algorithmic ability primarily because of the limitations of neural network optimization algorithms, their optimization data and optimization objective, but also due to architectural inexpressivity. To solve this, our paper proposes augmenting LLMs with a library of fundamental operations and sophisticated differentiable programs, so that common algorithms do not need to be learned from scratch. We add memory, registers, basic operations, and adaptive recurrence to a transformer architecture built on LLaMA3. Then, we define a method for directly compiling algorithms into a differentiable starting library, which is used natively and propagates gradients for optimization. In this preliminary study, we explore the feasability of augmenting LLaMA3 with a differentiable computer, for instance by fine-tuning small transformers on simple algorithmic tasks with variable computational depth.

Lucas Saldyt, Subbarao Kambhampati
arXiv:2407.04899 · cs.AI, cs.CL, cs.PL · submitted Jul 6, 2024 · updated May 24, 2025
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