In-context learning has emerged as a groundbreaking ability of Large Language Models (LLMs) and revolutionized various fields by providing a few task-relevant demonstrations in the prompt. However, trustworthy issues with LLM's response, such as hallucination, have also been actively discussed. Existing works have been devoted to quantifying the uncertainty in LLM's response, but they often overlook the complex nature of LLMs and the uniqueness of in-context learning. In this work, we delve into the predictive uncertainty of LLMs associated with in-context learning, highlighting that such uncertainties may stem from both the provided demonstrations (aleatoric uncertainty) and ambiguities tied to the model's configurations (epistemic uncertainty). We propose a novel formulation and corresponding estimation method to quantify both types of uncertainties. The proposed method offers an unsupervised way to understand the prediction of in-context learning in a plug-and-play fashion. Extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the decomposition. The code and data are available at: \url{https://github.com/lingchen0331/UQ_ICL}.

Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) provides an effective yet efficient solution for fine-tuning large language models (LLM). The modular and plug-and-play nature of LoRA enables the integration of diverse domain-specific LoRAs to enhance the capabilities of LLMs. Previous research on exploiting multiple LoRAs either focuses on specific isolated downstream tasks or fixes the selection of LoRAs during training. However, in real-world scenarios, LLMs receive diverse prompts covering different tasks, and the pool of candidate LoRAs is often dynamically updated. To bridge this gap, we propose LoraRetriever, a retrieve-then-compose framework that adaptively retrieves and composes multiple LoRAs according to the input prompts. LoraRetriever contains three main components: firstly, identifying and retrieving LoRAs relevant to the given input; secondly, formulating strategies for effectively integrating the retrieved LoRAs; and thirdly, developing efficient batch inference to accommodate heterogeneous requests. Experimental results indicate that LoraRetriever consistently outperforms the baselines, highlighting its practical effectiveness and versatility.

Transformer based large language models have achieved tremendous success. However, the significant memory and computational costs incurred during the inference process make it challenging to deploy large models on resource-constrained devices. In this paper, we investigate compression and efficient inference methods for large language models from an algorithmic perspective. Regarding taxonomy, similar to smaller models, compression and acceleration algorithms for large language models can still be categorized into quantization, pruning, distillation, compact architecture design, dynamic networks. However, Large language models have two prominent characteristics compared to smaller models: (1) Most of compression algorithms require finetuning or even retraining the model after compression. The most notable aspect of large models is the very high cost associated with model finetuning or training. Therefore, many algorithms for large models, such as quantization and pruning, start to explore tuning-free algorithms. (2) Large models emphasize versatility and generalization rather than performance on a single task. Hence, many algorithms, such as knowledge distillation, focus on how to preserving their versatility and generalization after compression. Since these two characteristics were not very pronounced in early large models, we further distinguish large language models into medium models and ``real'' large models. Additionally, we also provide an introduction to some mature frameworks for efficient inference of large models, which can support basic compression or acceleration algorithms, greatly facilitating model deployment for users.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly being utilized by both candidates and employers in the recruitment context. However, with this comes numerous ethical concerns, particularly related to the lack of transparency in these "black-box" models. Although previous studies have sought to increase the transparency of these models by investigating the personality traits of LLMs, many of the previous studies have provided them with personality assessments to complete. On the other hand, this study seeks to obtain a better understanding of such models by examining their output variations based on different input prompts. Specifically, we use a novel elicitation approach using prompts derived from common interview questions, as well as prompts designed to elicit particular Big Five personality traits to examine whether the models were susceptible to trait-activation like humans are, to measure their personality based on the language used in their outputs. To do so, we repeatedly prompted multiple LMs with different parameter sizes, including Llama-2, Falcon, Mistral, Bloom, GPT, OPT, and XLNet (base and fine tuned versions) and examined their personality using classifiers trained on the myPersonality dataset. Our results reveal that, generally, all LLMs demonstrate high openness and low extraversion. However, whereas LMs with fewer parameters exhibit similar behaviour in personality traits, newer and LMs with more parameters exhibit a broader range of personality traits, with increased agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness. Furthermore, a greater number of parameters is positively associated with openness and conscientiousness. Moreover, fine-tuned models exhibit minor modulations in their personality traits, contingent on the dataset. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

With the massive proliferation of data-driven algorithms, such as deep learning-based approaches, the availability of high-quality data is of great interest. Volumetric data is very important in medicine, as it ranges from disease diagnoses to therapy monitoring. When the dataset is sufficient, models can be trained to help doctors with these tasks. Unfortunately, there are scenarios where large amounts of data is unavailable. For example, rare diseases and privacy issues can lead to restricted data availability. In non-medical fields, the high cost of obtaining enough high-quality data can also be a concern. A solution to these problems can be the generation of realistic synthetic data using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). The existence of these mechanisms is a good asset, especially in healthcare, as the data must be of good quality, realistic, and without privacy issues. Therefore, most of the publications on volumetric GANs are within the medical domain. In this review, we provide a summary of works that generate realistic volumetric synthetic data using GANs. We therefore outline GAN-based methods in these areas with common architectures, loss functions and evaluation metrics, including their advantages and disadvantages. We present a novel taxonomy, evaluations, challenges, and research opportunities to provide a holistic overview of the current state of volumetric GANs.

Real-world black-box optimization often involves time-consuming or costly experiments and simulations. Multi-fidelity optimization (MFO) stands out as a cost-effective strategy that balances high-fidelity accuracy with computational efficiency through a hierarchical fidelity approach. This survey presents a systematic exploration of MFO, underpinned by a novel text mining framework based on a pre-trained language model. We delve deep into the foundational principles and methodologies of MFO, focusing on three core components -- multi-fidelity surrogate models, fidelity management strategies, and optimization techniques. Additionally, this survey highlights the diverse applications of MFO across several key domains, including machine learning, engineering design optimization, and scientific discovery, showcasing the adaptability and effectiveness of MFO in tackling complex computational challenges. Furthermore, we also envision several emerging challenges and prospects in the MFO landscape, spanning scalability, the composition of lower fidelities, and the integration of human-in-the-loop approaches at the algorithmic level. We also address critical issues related to benchmarking and the advancement of open science within the MFO community. Overall, this survey aims to catalyze further research and foster collaborations in MFO, setting the stage for future innovations and breakthroughs in the field.

Neural networks are the state-of-the-art approach for many tasks and the activation function is one of the main building blocks that allow such performance. Recently, a novel transformative adaptive activation function (TAAF) allowing for any vertical and horizontal translation and scaling was proposed. This work sets the TAAF into the context of other activation functions. It shows that the TAAFs generalize over 50 existing activation functions and utilize similar concepts as over 70 other activation functions, underscoring the versatility of TAAFs. This comprehensive exploration positions TAAFs as a promising and adaptable addition to neural networks.

This paper is intended to appear as a chapter for the Handbook of Markov Chain Monte Carlo. The goal of this chapter is to unify various problems at the intersection of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and machine learning$\unicode{x2014}$which includes black-box variational inference, adaptive MCMC, normalizing flow construction and transport-assisted MCMC, surrogate-likelihood MCMC, coreset construction for MCMC with big data, Markov chain gradient descent, Markovian score climbing, and more$\unicode{x2014}$within one common framework. By doing so, the theory and methods developed for each may be translated and generalized.

The rapid progression in artificial intelligence has facilitated the emergence of large language models like ChatGPT, offering potential applications extending into specialized engineering modeling, especially physics-based building energy modeling. This paper investigates the innovative integration of large language models with building energy modeling software, focusing specifically on the fusion of ChatGPT with EnergyPlus. A literature review is first conducted to reveal a growing trend of incorporating of large language models in engineering modeling, albeit limited research on their application in building energy modeling. We underscore the potential of large language models in addressing building energy modeling challenges and outline potential applications including 1) simulation input generation, 2) simulation output analysis and visualization, 3) conducting error analysis, 4) co-simulation, 5) simulation knowledge extraction and training, and 6) simulation optimization. Three case studies reveal the transformative potential of large language models in automating and optimizing building energy modeling tasks, underscoring the pivotal role of artificial intelligence in advancing sustainable building practices and energy efficiency. The case studies demonstrate that selecting the right large language model techniques is essential to enhance performance and reduce engineering efforts. Besides direct use of large language models, three specific techniques were utilized: 1) prompt engineering, 2) retrieval-augmented generation, and 3) multi-agent large language models. The findings advocate a multidisciplinary approach in future artificial intelligence research, with implications extending beyond building energy modeling to other specialized engineering modeling.

This study conducts a thorough evaluation of text augmentation techniques across a variety of datasets and natural language processing (NLP) tasks to address the lack of reliable, generalized evidence for these methods. It examines the effectiveness of these techniques in augmenting training sets to improve performance in tasks such as topic classification, sentiment analysis, and offensive language detection. The research emphasizes not only the augmentation methods, but also the strategic order in which real and augmented instances are introduced during training. A major contribution is the development and evaluation of Modified Cyclical Curriculum Learning (MCCL) for augmented datasets, which represents a novel approach in the field. Results show that specific augmentation methods, especially when integrated with MCCL, significantly outperform traditional training approaches in NLP model performance. These results underscore the need for careful selection of augmentation techniques and sequencing strategies to optimize the balance between speed and quality improvement in various NLP tasks. The study concludes that the use of augmentation methods, especially in conjunction with MCCL, leads to improved results in various classification tasks, providing a foundation for future advances in text augmentation strategies in NLP.