| Autor: |
Hu, Jerry Yao-Chieh, Wang, Wei-Po, Gilani, Ammar, Li, Chenyang, Song, Zhao, Liu, Han |
| Rok vydání: |
2024 |
| Předmět: |
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| Druh dokumentu: |
Working Paper |
| Popis: |
We investigate the statistical and computational limits of prompt tuning for transformer-based foundation models. Our key contributions are prompt tuning on \textit{single-head} transformers with only a \textit{single} self-attention layer: (i) is universal, and (ii) supports efficient (even almost-linear time) algorithms under the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis (SETH). Statistically, we prove that prompt tuning on such simplest possible transformers are universal approximators for sequence-to-sequence Lipschitz functions. In addition, we provide an exponential-in-$dL$ and -in-$(1/\epsilon)$ lower bound on the required soft-prompt tokens for prompt tuning to memorize any dataset with 1-layer, 1-head transformers. Computationally, we identify a phase transition in the efficiency of prompt tuning, determined by the norm of the \textit{soft-prompt-induced} keys and queries, and provide an upper bound criterion. Beyond this criterion, no sub-quadratic (efficient) algorithm for prompt tuning exists under SETH. Within this criterion, we showcase our theory by proving the existence of almost-linear time prompt tuning inference algorithms. These fundamental limits provide important necessary conditions for designing expressive and efficient prompt tuning methods for practitioners. |
| Databáze: |
arXiv |
| Externí odkaz: |
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