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LLM output homogeneity may stem from pre-training, not just alignment

A new research paper suggests that the homogeneity observed in large language model (LLM) outputs may originate during the pre-training phase rather than solely during the alignment process. The study found that semantic convergence can be revealed and amplified by supervised fine-tuning (SFT), but not introduced by it. Furthermore, instruct-like collapse can be induced in base models through prompting alone, indicating that convergence may be a natural outcome of LLM training objectives, making post-alignment interventions insufficient for mitigation. AI

IMPACT Suggests that current alignment techniques may be insufficient to address LLM output homogeneity, requiring a re-evaluation of pre-training strategies.

RANK_REASON Research paper published on arXiv discussing LLM training dynamics. [lever_c_demoted from research: ic=1 ai=1.0]

Read on arXiv cs.CL →

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 1 sources. How we write summaries →

LLM output homogeneity may stem from pre-training, not just alignment

COVERAGE [1]

  1. arXiv cs.CL TIER_1 English(EN) · Alexandrine Fortier, Hazel Chen, Peter West ·

    Is Convergence Inevitable? Tracing Output Homogeneity Back to Base Models

    arXiv:2608.11426v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The lack of diversity in LM content is widely attributed to the alignment process, but how and where exactly in the pipeline this collapse begins is unknown. We argue that output homogeneity is likely learned during the pretraining …