Education
PAPILLON: PrivAcy Preservation from Internet-based and Local Language MOdel ENsembles
Siyan, Li, Raghuram, Vethavikashini Chithrra, Khattab, Omar, Hirschberg, Julia, Yu, Zhou
Users can divulge sensitive information to proprietary LLM providers, raising significant privacy concerns. While open-source models, hosted locally on the user's machine, alleviate some concerns, models that users can host locally are often less capable than proprietary frontier models. Toward preserving user privacy while retaining the best quality, we propose Privacy-Conscious Delegation, a novel task for chaining API-based and local models. We utilize recent public collections of user-LLM interactions to construct a natural benchmark called PUPA, which contains personally identifiable information (PII). To study potential approaches, we devise PAPILLON, a multi-stage LLM pipeline that uses prompt optimization to address a simpler version of our task. Our best pipeline maintains high response quality for 85.5% of user queries while restricting privacy leakage to only 7.5%. We still leave a large margin to the generation quality of proprietary LLMs for future work. Our data and code will be available at https://github.com/siyan-sylvia-li/PAPILLON.
UnStar: Unlearning with Self-Taught Anti-Sample Reasoning for LLMs
Sinha, Yash, Mandal, Murari, Kankanhalli, Mohan
The key components of machine learning are data samples for training, model for learning patterns, and loss function for optimizing accuracy. Analogously, unlearning can potentially be achieved through anti-data samples (or anti-samples), unlearning method, and reversed loss function. While prior research has explored unlearning methods and reversed loss functions, the potential of anti-samples remains largely untapped. In this paper, we introduce UnSTAR: Unlearning with Self-Taught Anti-Sample Reasoning for large language models (LLMs). Our contributions are threefold; first, we propose a novel concept of anti-sample-induced unlearning; second, we generate anti-samples by leveraging misleading rationales, which help reverse learned associations and accelerate the unlearning process; and third, we enable fine-grained targeted unlearning, allowing for the selective removal of specific associations without impacting related knowledge - something not achievable by previous works. Results demonstrate that anti-samples offer an efficient, targeted unlearning strategy for LLMs, opening new avenues for privacy-preserving machine learning and model modification.
Learning Load Balancing with GNN in MPTCP-Enabled Heterogeneous Networks
Ji, Han, Wu, Xiping, Zeng, Zhihong, Chen, Chen
Hybrid light fidelity (LiFi) and wireless fidelity (WiFi) networks are a promising paradigm of heterogeneous network (HetNet), attributed to the complementary physical properties of optical spectra and radio frequency. However, the current development of such HetNets is mostly bottlenecked by the existing transmission control protocol (TCP), which restricts the user equipment (UE) to connecting one access point (AP) at a time. While the ongoing investigation on multipath TCP (MPTCP) can bring significant benefits, it complicates the network topology of HetNets, making the existing load balancing (LB) learning models less effective. Driven by this, we propose a graph neural network (GNN)-based model to tackle the LB problem for MPTCP-enabled HetNets, which results in a partial mesh topology. Such a topology can be modeled as a graph, with the channel state information and data rate requirement embedded as node features, while the LB solutions are deemed as edge labels. Compared to the conventional deep neural network (DNN), the proposed GNN-based model exhibits two key strengths: i) it can better interpret a complex network topology; and ii) it can handle various numbers of APs and UEs with a single trained model. Simulation results show that against the traditional optimisation method, the proposed learning model can achieve near-optimal throughput within a gap of 11.5%, while reducing the inference time by 4 orders of magnitude. In contrast to the DNN model, the new method can improve the network throughput by up to 21.7%, at a similar inference time level.
Direction-Constrained Control for Efficient Physical Human-Robot Interaction under Hierarchical Tasks
Xu, Mengxin, Wan, Weiwei, Wang, Hesheng, Harada, Kensuke
--This paper proposes a control method to address the physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI) challenge in the context of hierarchical tasks. A common approach to managing hierarchical tasks is Hierarchical Quadratic Programming (HQP), which, however, cannot be directly applied to human interaction due to its allowance of arbitrary velocity direction adjustments. T o resolve this limitation, we introduce the concept of directional constraints and develop a direction-constrained optimization algorithm to handle the nonlinearities induced by these constraints. The algorithm solves two sub-problems, minimizing the error and minimizing the deviation angle, in parallel, and combines the results of the two sub-problems to produce a final optimal outcome. The mutual influence between these two sub-problems is analyzed to determine the best parameter for combination. Additionally, the velocity objective in our control framework is computed using a variable admittance controller . Traditional admittance control does not account for constraints. T o address this issue, we propose a variable admittance control method to adjust control objectives dynamically. The method helps reduce the deviation between robot velocity and human intention at the constraint boundaries, thereby enhancing interaction efficiency. We evaluate the proposed method in scenarios where a human operator physically interacts with a 7-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. Compared to existing methods, our approach generates smoother robotic trajectories during interaction while avoiding interaction delays at the constraint boundaries. Recent advancements in physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI) have significantly improved robots' abilities to support individuals [1] [2]. For example, pHRI has shown promising results in tasks such as load transportation [3], collaborative drawing [4], surface polishing [5], assembly [6], rehabilitation [7], etc. This work was conducted while Mengxin Xu was a visiting researcher at Osaka University, Japan. It was partially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62225309, 62073222, U21A20480 and U1913204. Mengxin Xu is with the Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China (e-mail: mengxin xu@sjtu.edu.cn). Weiwei Wan and Kensuke Harada are with the Department of System Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan (e-mail: wan@sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp, harada@sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp). Hesheng Wang is with the Department of Automation, the Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing of Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Intelligent Control and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China (email: wanghesheng@sjtu.edu.cn). In pHRI, the robot can reduce both the physical and cognitive load on humans, while humans contribute valuable guidance based on their experience.
ACPBench: Reasoning about Action, Change, and Planning
Kokel, Harsha, Katz, Michael, Srinivas, Kavitha, Sohrabi, Shirin
There is an increasing body of work using Large Language Models (LLMs) as agents for orchestrating workflows and making decisions in domains that require planning and multi-step reasoning. As a result, it is imperative to evaluate LLMs on core skills required for planning. In this work, we present ACPBench, a benchmark for evaluating the reasoning tasks in the field of planning. The benchmark consists of 7 reasoning tasks over 13 planning domains. The collection is constructed from planning domains described in a formal language. This allows us to synthesize problems with provably correct solutions across many tasks and domains. Further, it allows us the luxury of scale without additional human effort, i.e., many additional problems can be created automatically. Our extensive evaluation of 22 LLMs and OpenAI o1 reasoning models highlights the significant gap in the reasoning capability of the LLMs. Our findings with OpenAI o1, a multi-turn reasoning model, reveal significant gains in performance on multiple-choice questions, yet surprisingly, no notable progress is made on boolean questions. The ACPBench collection is available at https://ibm.github.io/ACPBench.
From PINNs to PIKANs: Recent Advances in Physics-Informed Machine Learning
Toscano, Juan Diego, Oommen, Vivek, Varghese, Alan John, Zou, Zongren, Daryakenari, Nazanin Ahmadi, Wu, Chenxi, Karniadakis, George Em
Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) have emerged as a key tool in Scientific Machine Learning since their introduction in 2017, enabling the efficient solution of ordinary and partial differential equations using sparse measurements. Over the past few years, significant advancements have been made in the training and optimization of PINNs, covering aspects such as network architectures, adaptive refinement, domain decomposition, and the use of adaptive weights and activation functions. A notable recent development is the Physics-Informed Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (PIKANS), which leverage a representation model originally proposed by Kolmogorov in 1957, offering a promising alternative to traditional PINNs. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in PINNs, focusing on improvements in network design, feature expansion, optimization techniques, uncertainty quantification, and theoretical insights. We also survey key applications across a range of fields, including biomedicine, fluid and solid mechanics, geophysics, dynamical systems, heat transfer, chemical engineering, and beyond. Finally, we review computational frameworks and software tools developed by both academia and industry to support PINN research and applications.
User-centric evaluation of explainability of AI with and for humans: a comprehensive empirical study
Bobek, Szymon, Korycińska, Paloma, Krakowska, Monika, Mozolewski, Maciej, Rak, Dorota, Zych, Magdalena, Wójcik, Magdalena, Nalepa, Grzegorz J.
This study is located in the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) and focuses on the results of a user-centered assessment of commonly used eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) algorithms, specifically investigating how humans understand and interact with the explanations provided by these algorithms. To achieve this, we employed a multi-disciplinary approach that included state-of-the-art research methods from social sciences to measure the comprehensibility of explanations generated by a state-of-the-art lachine learning model, specifically the Gradient Boosting Classifier (XGBClassifier). We conducted an extensive empirical user study involving interviews with 39 participants from three different groups, each with varying expertise in data science, data visualization, and domain-specific knowledge related to the dataset used for training the machine learning model. Participants were asked a series of questions to assess their understanding of the model's explanations. To ensure replicability, we built the model using a publicly available dataset from the UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository, focusing on edible and non-edible mushrooms. Our findings reveal limitations in existing XAI methods and confirm the need for new design principles and evaluation techniques that address the specific information needs and user perspectives of different classes of AI stakeholders. We believe that the results of our research and the cross-disciplinary methodology we developed can be successfully adapted to various data types and user profiles, thus promoting dialogue and address opportunities in HCAI research. To support this, we are making the data resulting from our study publicly available.
On Creating an English-Thai Code-switched Machine Translation in Medical Domain
Pengpun, Parinthapat, Tiankanon, Krittamate, Chinkamol, Amrest, Kinchagawat, Jiramet, Chairuengjitjaras, Pitchaya, Supholkhan, Pasit, Aussavavirojekul, Pubordee, Boonnag, Chiraphat, Veerakanjana, Kanyakorn, Phimsiri, Hirunkul, Sae-jia, Boonthicha, Sataudom, Nattawach, Ittichaiwong, Piyalitt, Limkonchotiwat, Peerat
Machine translation (MT) in the medical domain plays a pivotal role in enhancing healthcare quality and disseminating medical knowledge. Despite advancements in English-Thai MT technology, common MT approaches often underperform in the medical field due to their inability to precisely translate medical terminologies. Our research prioritizes not merely improving translation accuracy but also maintaining medical terminology in English within the translated text through code-switched (CS) translation. We developed a method to produce CS medical translation data, fine-tuned a CS translation model with this data, and evaluated its performance against strong baselines, such as Google Neural Machine Translation (NMT) and GPT-3.5/GPT-4. Our model demonstrated competitive performance in automatic metrics and was highly favored in human preference evaluations. Our evaluation result also shows that medical professionals significantly prefer CS translations that maintain critical English terms accurately, even if it slightly compromises fluency. Our code and test set are publicly available https://github.com/preceptorai-org/NLLB_CS_EM_NLP2024.
Unconstrained Model Merging for Enhanced LLM Reasoning
Zhang, Yiming, He, Baoyi, Zhang, Shengyu, Fu, Yuhao, Zhou, Qi, Sang, Zhijie, Hong, Zijin, Yang, Kejing, Wang, Wenjun, Yuan, Jianbo, Ning, Guanghan, Li, Linyi, Ji, Chunlin, Wu, Fei, Yang, Hongxia
Recent advancements in building domain-specific large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable success, especially in tasks requiring reasoning abilities like logical inference over complex relationships and multi-step problem solving. However, creating a powerful all-in-one LLM remains challenging due to the need for proprietary data and vast computational resources. As a resource-friendly alternative, we explore the potential of merging multiple expert models into a single LLM. Existing studies on model merging mainly focus on generalist LLMs instead of domain experts, or the LLMs under the same architecture and size. In this work, we propose an unconstrained model merging framework that accommodates both homogeneous and heterogeneous model architectures with a focus on reasoning tasks. A fine-grained layer-wise weight merging strategy is designed for homogeneous models merging, while heterogeneous model merging is built upon the probabilistic distribution knowledge derived from instruction-response fine-tuning data. Across 7 benchmarks and 9 reasoning-optimized LLMs, we reveal key findings that combinatorial reasoning emerges from merging which surpasses simple additive effects. We propose that unconstrained model merging could serve as a foundation for decentralized LLMs, marking a notable progression from the existing centralized LLM framework. This evolution could enhance wider participation and stimulate additional advancement in the field of artificial intelligence, effectively addressing the constraints posed by centralized models.
On the Geometry of Regularization in Adversarial Training: High-Dimensional Asymptotics and Generalization Bounds
Vilucchio, Matteo, Tsilivis, Nikolaos, Loureiro, Bruno, Kempe, Julia
Regularization, whether explicit in terms of a penalty in the loss or implicit in the choice of algorithm, is a cornerstone of modern machine learning. Indeed, controlling the complexity of the model class is particularly important when data is scarce, noisy or contaminated, as it translates a statistical belief on the underlying structure of the data. This work investigates the question of how to choose the regularization norm $\lVert \cdot \rVert$ in the context of high-dimensional adversarial training for binary classification. To this end, we first derive an exact asymptotic description of the robust, regularized empirical risk minimizer for various types of adversarial attacks and regularization norms (including non-$\ell_p$ norms). We complement this analysis with a uniform convergence analysis, deriving bounds on the Rademacher Complexity for this class of problems. Leveraging our theoretical results, we quantitatively characterize the relationship between perturbation size and the optimal choice of $\lVert \cdot \rVert$, confirming the intuition that, in the data scarce regime, the type of regularization becomes increasingly important for adversarial training as perturbations grow in size.