What is it to interpret the outputs of an opaque machine learning model. One approach is to develop interpretable machine learning techniques. These techniques aim to show how machine learning models function by providing either model centric local or global explanations, which can be based on mechanistic interpretations revealing the inner working mechanisms of models or nonmechanistic approximations showing input feature output data relationships. In this paper, we draw on social philosophy to argue that interpreting machine learning outputs in certain normatively salient domains could require appealing to a third type of explanation that we call sociostructural explanation. The relevance of this explanation type is motivated by the fact that machine learning models are not isolated entities but are embedded within and shaped by social structures. Sociostructural explanations aim to illustrate how social structures contribute to and partially explain the outputs of machine learning models. We demonstrate the importance of sociostructural explanations by examining a racially biased healthcare allocation algorithm. Our proposal highlights the need for transparency beyond model interpretability, understanding the outputs of machine learning systems could require a broader analysis that extends beyond the understanding of the machine learning model itself.

Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools for natural language processing tasks, revolutionizing the field with their ability to understand and generate human-like text. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of the several research efforts that have been presented for the acceleration of transformer networks for Large Language Models using hardware accelerators. The survey presents the frameworks that have been proposed and then performs a qualitative and quantitative comparison regarding the technology, the processing platform (FPGA, ASIC, In-Memory, GPU), the speedup, the energy efficiency, the performance (GOPs), and the energy efficiency (GOPs/W) of each framework. The main challenge in comparison is that every proposed scheme is implemented on a different process technology making hard a fair comparison. The main contribution of this paper is that we extrapolate the results of the performance and the energy efficiency on the same technology to make a fair comparison; one theoretical and one more practical. We implement part of the LLMs on several FPGA chips to extrapolate the results to the same process technology and then we make a fair comparison of the performance.

Model merging is an efficient empowerment technique in the machine learning community that does not require the collection of raw training data and does not require expensive computation. As model merging becomes increasingly prevalent across various fields, it is crucial to understand the available model merging techniques comprehensively. However, there is a significant gap in the literature regarding a systematic and thorough review of these techniques. This survey provides a comprehensive overview of model merging methods and theories, their applications in various domains and settings, and future research directions. Specifically, we first propose a new taxonomic approach that exhaustively discusses existing model merging methods. Secondly, we discuss the application of model merging techniques in large language models, multimodal large language models, and 10+ machine learning subfields, including continual learning, multi-task learning, few-shot learning, etc. Finally, we highlight the remaining challenges of model merging and discuss future research directions. A comprehensive list of papers about model merging is available at \url{https://github.com/EnnengYang/Awesome-Model-Merging-Methods-Theories-Applications}.

This book uses the modern theory of artificial intelligence (AI) to understand human suffering or mental pain. Both humans and sophisticated AI agents process information about the world in order to achieve goals and obtain rewards, which is why AI can be used as a model of the human brain and mind. This book intends to make the theory accessible to a relatively general audience, requiring only some relevant scientific background. The book starts with the assumption that suffering is mainly caused by frustration. Frustration means the failure of an agent (whether AI or human) to achieve a goal or a reward it wanted or expected. Frustration is inevitable because of the overwhelming complexity of the world, limited computational resources, and scarcity of good data. In particular, such limitations imply that an agent acting in the real world must cope with uncontrollability, unpredictability, and uncertainty, which all lead to frustration. Fundamental in such modelling is the idea of learning, or adaptation to the environment. While AI uses machine learning, humans and animals adapt by a combination of evolutionary mechanisms and ordinary learning. Even frustration is fundamentally an error signal that the system uses for learning. This book explores various aspects and limitations of learning algorithms and their implications regarding suffering. At the end of the book, the computational theory is used to derive various interventions or training methods that will reduce suffering in humans. The amount of frustration is expressed by a simple equation which indicates how it can be reduced. The ensuing interventions are very similar to those proposed by Buddhist and Stoic philosophy, and include mindfulness meditation. Therefore, this book can be interpreted as an exposition of a computational theory justifying why such philosophies and meditation reduce human suffering.

Analyzing large datasets to select optimal features is one of the most important research areas in machine learning and data mining. This feature selection procedure involves dimensionality reduction which is crucial in enhancing the performance of the model, making it less complex. Recently, several types of attribute selection methods have been proposed that use different approaches to obtain representative subsets of the attributes. However, population-based evolutionary algorithms like Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have been proposed to provide remedies for these drawbacks by avoiding local optima and improving the selection process itself. This manuscript presents a sweeping review on GA-based feature selection techniques in applications and their effectiveness across different domains. This review was conducted using the PRISMA methodology; hence, the systematic identification, screening, and analysis of relevant literature were performed. Thus, our results hint that the field's hybrid GA methodologies including, but not limited to, GA-Wrapper feature selector and HGA-neural networks, have substantially improved their potential through the resolution of problems such as exploration of unnecessary search space, accuracy performance problems, and complexity. The conclusions of this paper would result in discussing the potential that GAs bear in feature selection and future research directions for their enhancement in applicability and performance.

Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) equip pre-trained large-language models (LLMs) with visual capabilities. While textual prompting in LLMs has been widely studied, visual prompting has emerged for more fine-grained and free-form visual instructions. This paper presents the first comprehensive survey on visual prompting methods in MLLMs, focusing on visual prompting, prompt generation, compositional reasoning, and prompt learning. We categorize existing visual prompts and discuss generative methods for automatic prompt annotations on the images. We also examine visual prompting methods that enable better alignment between visual encoders and backbone LLMs, concerning MLLM's visual grounding, object referring, and compositional reasoning abilities. In addition, we provide a summary of model training and in-context learning methods to improve MLLM's perception and understanding of visual prompts. This paper examines visual prompting methods developed in MLLMs and provides a vision of the future of these methods.

The rapid global aging trend has led to an increase in dementia cases, including Alzheimer's disease, underscoring the urgent need for early and accurate diagnostic methods. Traditional diagnostic techniques, such as cognitive tests, neuroimaging, and biomarker analysis, face significant limitations in sensitivity, accessibility, and cost, particularly in the early stages. This study explores the potential of machine learning (ML) as a transformative approach to enhance early dementia detection by leveraging ML models to analyze and integrate complex multimodal datasets, including cognitive assessments, neuroimaging, and genetic information. A comprehensive review of existing literature was conducted to evaluate various ML models, including supervised learning, deep learning, and advanced techniques such as ensemble learning and transformer models, assessing their accuracy, interpretability, and potential for clinical integration. The findings indicate that while ML models show significant promise in improving diagnostic precision and enabling earlier interventions, challenges remain in their generalizability, interpretability, and ethical deployment. This research concludes by outlining future directions aimed at enhancing the clinical utility of ML models in dementia detection, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and ethically sound frameworks to improve early detection and intervention strategies for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

The field of emergent language represents a novel area of research within the domain of artificial intelligence, particularly within the context of multi-agent reinforcement learning. Although the concept of studying language emergence is not new, early approaches were primarily concerned with explaining human language formation, with little consideration given to its potential utility for artificial agents. In contrast, studies based on reinforcement learning aim to develop communicative capabilities in agents that are comparable to or even superior to human language. Thus, they extend beyond the learned statistical representations that are common in natural language processing research. This gives rise to a number of fundamental questions, from the prerequisites for language emergence to the criteria for measuring its success. This paper addresses these questions by providing a comprehensive review of 181 scientific publications on emergent language in artificial intelligence. Its objective is to serve as a reference for researchers interested in or proficient in the field. Consequently, the main contributions are the definition and overview of the prevailing terminology, the analysis of existing evaluation methods and metrics, and the description of the identified research gaps.

Register Transfer Level (RTL) code optimization is crucial for enhancing the efficiency and performance of digital circuits during early synthesis stages. Currently, optimization relies heavily on manual efforts by skilled engineers, often requiring multiple iterations based on synthesis feedback. In contrast, existing compiler-based methods fall short in addressing complex designs. This paper introduces RTLRewriter, an innovative framework that leverages large models to optimize RTL code. A circuit partition pipeline is utilized for fast synthesis and efficient rewriting. A multi-modal program analysis is proposed to incorporate vital visual diagram information as optimization cues. A specialized search engine is designed to identify useful optimization guides, algorithms, and code snippets that enhance the model ability to generate optimized RTL. Additionally, we introduce a Cost-aware Monte Carlo Tree Search (C-MCTS) algorithm for efficient rewriting, managing diverse retrieved contents and steering the rewriting results. Furthermore, a fast verification pipeline is proposed to reduce verification cost. To cater to the needs of both industry and academia, we propose two benchmarking suites: the Large Rewriter Benchmark, targeting complex scenarios with extensive circuit partitioning, optimization trade-offs, and verification challenges, and the Small Rewriter Benchmark, designed for a wider range of scenarios and patterns. Our comparative analysis with established compilers such as Yosys and E-graph demonstrates significant improvements, highlighting the benefits of integrating large models into the early stages of circuit design. We provide our benchmarks at https://github.com/yaoxufeng/RTLRewriter-Bench.

Advancements in LLMs have recently unveiled challenges tied to computational efficiency and continual scalability due to their requirements of huge parameters, making the applications and evolution of these models on devices with limited computation resources and scenarios requiring various abilities increasingly cumbersome. Inspired by modularity within the human brain, there is a growing tendency to decompose LLMs into numerous functional modules, allowing for inference with part of modules and dynamic assembly of modules to tackle complex tasks, such as mixture-of-experts. To highlight the inherent efficiency and composability of the modular approach, we coin the term brick to represent each functional module, designating the modularized structure as configurable foundation models. In this paper, we offer a comprehensive overview and investigation of the construction, utilization, and limitation of configurable foundation models. We first formalize modules into emergent bricks - functional neuron partitions that emerge during the pre-training phase, and customized bricks - bricks constructed via additional post-training to improve the capabilities and knowledge of LLMs. Based on diverse functional bricks, we further present four brick-oriented operations: retrieval and routing, merging, updating, and growing. These operations allow for dynamic configuration of LLMs based on instructions to handle complex tasks. To verify our perspective, we conduct an empirical analysis on widely-used LLMs. We find that the FFN layers follow modular patterns with functional specialization of neurons and functional neuron partitions. Finally, we highlight several open issues and directions for future research. Overall, this paper aims to offer a fresh modular perspective on existing LLM research and inspire the future creation of more efficient and scalable foundational models.