When models manipulate manifolds: The geometry of a counting task

(transformer-circuits.pub)

53 points | by vinhnx 5 days ago ago

5 comments

  • Rygian an hour ago

    > The task we study is linebreaking in fixed-width text.

    I wonder why they focused specifically on a task that is already solved algorithmically. The paper does not seem to address this, and the references do not include any mentions of non-LLM approaches to the line-breaking problem.

    • Legend2440 an hour ago

      They study it because it already has a known solution.

      The point is to see how LLMs implement algorithms internally, starting with this simple easily understood algorithm.

      • Rygian 2 minutes ago

        That makes sense; however it does not seem like they check the LLM outputs against the known solution. Maybe I missed that in the article.

    • omnicognate an hour ago

      There's also a lot of analogising of this to visual/spatial reasoning, even to the point of talking about "visual illusions", when its clearly a counting task as the title says.

      It makes it tedious to figure out what they actually did (which sounds interesting) when it's couched in such terms and presented in such an LLMified style.

  • lccerina 31 minutes ago

    Utter disrespect for using the term "biology" relating to LLM. No one would call the analysis of a mechanical engine "car biology". It's an artificial system, call it system analysis.