This February 2024 paper suggest that the inclusion of explanations can enable models to solve complex problem-solving tasks more effectively than traditional training methods.
The process of fine-tuning can be complex and resource-intensive, often requiring large amounts of data and computational power.
This study has shed light on how the inclusion of explanations in the training data can significantly enhance the fine-tuning process, leading to improved performance and more efficient learning.
The research team's findings demonstrate that by incorporating step-by-step explanations into the training data, language models can achieve higher accuracy, solve previously unsolvable tasks, and generalize better to new challenges.
The key findings
The inclusion of explanations within the training data significantly boosts the performance of language models, particularly helping smaller models to a greater extent than larger ones.
Evidence: The T5-small model (60 million parameters) achieved 87.8% accuracy with long explanations, compared to 65.1% without explanations. Larger models like T5-3B (2.7 billion parameters) also benefited from explanations but to a lesser degree, achieving 99.3% accuracy with long explanations compared to 65.8% without.
Models fine-tuned with explanations can solve tasks they previously could not handle, indicating that explanations help bridge gaps in a model's knowledge and reasoning capabilities.
Evidence: On the modular sum task, all models performed no better than random guessing without explanations. However, with explanations, the models could solve the problem, with T5-small achieving 75.7% accuracy with long explanations and larger models scoring over 98% with any type of explanation.
Adding explanations to the training data not only reduces the required volume of data but also facilitates better generalization across tasks.
Evidence: The T5-large model trained on just 2,000 explained samples achieved 66.1% accuracy, outperforming the model trained on 2,000 unexplained samples (44.9%). When trained on sequences of length 50-100 and tested on sequences of length 100-200, the T5-large model achieved 91.2% accuracy with medium-length explanations, compared to 63.5% without explanations.
The complexity of explanations impacts the model's learning curve over time, with diminishing returns on model performance improvements with increasingly detailed explanations.
Evidence: For the T5-small model, longer explanations led to faster convergence and higher accuracy. However, for larger models like T5-base and T5-large, the effect of explanation length on convergence speed and final accuracy was less pronounced, suggesting that larger models require less detailed explanations to benefit.
In summary, this paper provides strong evidence for the benefits of fine-tuning language models with explanations, particularly for smaller models and complex problem-solving tasks.
The inclusion of explanations can reduce the required training data, improve generalization, and help models solve tasks they previously could not handle.
However, the optimal level of explanation complexity may vary depending on the model size, and there may be limitations to the model's ability to generalise to certain types of variations in the input data.
Instruction Tuning Dataset: Movie Genre Classification
No Explanations
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres:action, comedy, or drama.Input:When a retired CIA agent is kidnapped by a terrorist group, his son, a young MIT graduate, takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a daring rescue mission.Output:action
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres:action, comedy, or drama.Input:A quirky, socially awkward woman moves to a small town and becomes entangled in the lives of her eccentric new neighbors, leading to hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected friendships.Output:comedy
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres:action, comedy, or drama.Input:In the wake of a tragic accident, a once-promising athlete must confront his inner demons and rebuild his life while navigating complex relationships with his family and friends.Output:drama
Short Explanations
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and briefly explain your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:When a retired CIA agent is kidnapped by a terrorist group, his son, a young MIT graduate, takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a daring rescue mission.Output:action. The plot involves a rescue mission and a CIA agent, which are common elements in action movies.
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and briefly explain your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:A quirky, socially awkward woman moves to a small town and becomes entangled in the lives of her eccentric new neighbors, leading to hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected friendships.Output:comedy. The plot features quirky characters, misunderstandings, and humor, which are typical of comedy movies.
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and briefly explain your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:In the wake of a tragic accident, a once-promising athlete must confront his inner demons and rebuild his life while navigating complex relationships with his family and friends.Output:drama. The plot deals with a character's inner struggles and complex relationships, which are often the focus of drama movies.
Medium Explanations
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and provide a medium-length explanation for your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:When a retired CIA agent is kidnapped by a terrorist group, his son, a young MIT graduate, takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a daring rescue mission.Output:action- The plot involves a kidnapping by a terrorist group, which creates a high-stakes situation.- The main character is a young MIT graduate, suggesting intelligence and resourcefulness.- The son embarks on a daring rescue mission, implying action and adventure.Based on these elements, the movie is likely an action film.
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and provide a medium-length explanation for your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:A quirky, socially awkward woman moves to a small town and becomes entangled in the lives of her eccentric new neighbors, leading to hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected friendships.Output:comedy- The main character is described as quirky and socially awkward, which often leads to humorous situations.- The plot involves misunderstandings and unexpected friendships, suggesting a lighthearted tone.- The small-town setting and eccentric neighbors are common tropes in comedy movies.Given these factors, the movie is most likely a comedy.
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and provide a medium-length explanation for your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:In the wake of a tragic accident, a once-promising athlete must confront his inner demons and rebuild his life while navigating complex relationships with his family and friends.Output:drama- The plot centers around a tragic accident, which sets a serious and emotional tone.- The main character must confront his inner demons, indicating a focus on personal struggles and growth.- The character navigates complex relationships with family and friends, suggesting interpersonal drama.Considering these elements, the movie falls into the drama genre.
Long Explanations
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and provide a detailed explanation for your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:When a retired CIA agent is kidnapped by a terrorist group, his son, a young MIT graduate, takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a daring rescue mission.Output:actionThis movie plot summary contains several key elements that strongly suggest it belongs to the action genre:1. The inciting incident involves the kidnapping of a retired CIA agent by a terrorist group. This sets up a high-stakes, dangerous situation that is common in action movies.2. The protagonist is the son of the kidnapped CIA agent, and he is described as a young MIT graduate. This implies that he is intelligent, resourceful, and likely possesses skills that will aid him in the rescue mission.3. The son "takes matters into his own hands" and embarks on a "daring rescue mission." This indicates that the plot will involve thrilling action sequences, chases, and potentially violent confrontations as the son attempts to save his father.4. The involvement of a terrorist group suggests that there may be broader political or societal implications at play, which is another common theme in action movies.Overall, the combination of a high-stakes kidnapping, a resourceful protagonist, and a daring rescue mission firmly places this movie in the action genre.
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and provide a detailed explanation for your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:A quirky, socially awkward woman moves to a small town and becomes entangled in the lives of her eccentric new neighbors, leading to hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected friendships.Output:comedyThis movie plot summary exhibits several characteristics that are strongly associated with the comedy genre:1. The protagonist is described as "quirky" and "socially awkward." These traits often serve as a source of humor in comedies, as the character's unusual behavior or perspective can lead to amusing situations and misunderstandings.2. The setting is a small town, which is a common trope in comedy movies. Small towns often have a close-knit community and a cast of colorful, eccentric characters that can provide a rich source of comedic material.3. The plot involves the protagonist becoming "entangled in the lives of her eccentric new neighbors." This suggests that there will be a series of humorous interactions, misunderstandings, and potentially embarrassing situations as the character navigates her new social environment.4. The phrase "leading to hilarious misunderstandings" directly indicates that the movie will feature plenty of comedic moments arising from the character's interactions with her neighbors.5. The mention of "unexpected friendships" suggests that the movie will have a heartwarming aspect as well, which is common in many comedies. The protagonist's journey may involve personal growth and the formation of unlikely bonds with her quirky neighbors.In summary, the quirky protagonist, small-town setting, eccentric neighbors, and emphasis on hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected friendships all point to this movie being a clear example of the comedy genre.
Instruction:Classify the following movie plot summary into one of three genres and provide a detailed explanation for your choice:action, comedy, or drama.Input:In the wake of a tragic accident, a once-promising athlete must confront his inner demons and rebuild his life while navigating complex relationships with his family and friends.Output:dramaThis movie plot summary contains several elements that strongly indicate it belongs to the drama genre:1. The inciting incident is a "tragic accident," which immediately sets a serious and emotionally heavy tone. Dramas often explore characters grappling with difficult, life-altering events and their aftermath.2. The protagonist is described as a "once-promising athlete," suggesting that the accident has derailed their life and career. This sets up a narrative of personal struggle and potential redemption, which is a common theme in drama movies.3. The phrase "confront his inner demons" indicates that the movie will delve into the protagonist's psychological and emotional struggles. Dramas often focus on characters' inner lives, their flaws, and their efforts to overcome personal challenges.4. The protagonist must "rebuild his life," which implies a journey of growth, healing, and self-discovery. This type of character arc is a hallmark of the drama genre.5. The movie also involves the protagonist "navigating complex relationships with his family and friends." Dramas often explore interpersonal dynamics, family issues, and the ways in which relationships can be strained or strengthened during difficult times.6. The words "tragic," "inner demons," and "complex relationships" all suggest that the movie will have a serious, emotionally intense tone, which is characteristic of the drama genre.Overall, the combination of a tragic event, a protagonist confronting personal struggles, a journey of rebuilding and self-discovery, and complex interpersonal relationships firmly situates this movie in the drama genre.
This dataset provides instructions, inputs, and outputs for the task of movie genre classification, with varying levels of explanation.
By training a language model on this dataset, it can learn to classify movie plot summaries into genres and provide explanations for its choices, depending on the level of detail requested in the instruction.
References
The references can be categorised into logical groups based on their primary focus and contributions to the field of language model research:
1. Language Model Enhancements and Applications
Prompting and Fine-Tuning Techniques: Papers discussing innovative techniques to enhance model performance through prompting or fine-tuning strategies. This includes works by Wei et al. (2022b) on "Chain-of-Thought" prompting and Ziegler et al. (2019) on fine-tuning models based on human preferences.
Transformer Architectures and Applications: Seminal works on transformer architectures such as Vaswani et al. (2017), and their applications to various tasks, such as Pegasus by Zhang et al. (2020) for summarization.
2. Model Explanation and Interpretability
Explanations in Machine Learning: Papers focused on enhancing understanding of model decisions, such as Camburu et al. (2018) with e-SNLI and Hase et al. (2020) discussing the roles of explanations in model training.
Analyzing Model Behavior: Studies like Ballout et al. (2023a) that explore the internal mechanisms of models, such as attention weights, for better interpretability.
3. Generalization and Multi-task Learning
Cross-Domain and Multi-task Learning: Papers examining the capabilities of language models across different tasks and domains, such as the work by Ballout et al. (2023b) on cross-domain datasets and Lu et al. (2021) on using pre-trained transformers as universal computation engines.
Meta-Learning and Few-Shot Learning: Insights from Chen et al. (2022) and Brown et al. (2020) on how language models can adapt to new tasks with minimal examples.
4. Methodological Innovations in Training Language Models
Training and Scaling Models: Works that focus on novel training methods or scaling up models, such as Cobbe et al. (2021) on training verifiers and Chung et al. (2022) on scaling instruction-tuned language models.
Fine-Tuning and Instruction Tuning: Studies like Liu et al. (2022) that compare different fine-tuning methods with in-context learning for efficiency and efficacy.
5. Model Reasoning and Decision Making
Advanced Reasoning Strategies: Research on advanced model reasoning techniques, such as the "Tree of Thoughts" method by Yao et al. (2023) and multimodal reasoning as explored by Zhang et al. (2023).
Natural Language Understanding and Reasoning: Contributions to understanding and enhancing reasoning in language models, including Rajani et al. (2019) on leveraging language models for commonsense reasoning.
These categories reflect the diverse approaches and methodologies currently being explored in the field of language modeling, each contributing to the overarching goal of enhancing model performance, understanding, and utility across a range of applications.
Shows the results of the T5-small and T5-3B models on ListOps, comparing performances when fine-tuned without explanations versus with three the types of explanations.
