Optimizing Language Model Training | 14min snip from "The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders, Researchers, and Live Player Analysis

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Everything You Wanted to Know About LLM Post-Training, with Nathan Lambert of Allen Institute for AI

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders, Researchers, and Live Player Analysis

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CHAPTER

Optimizing Language Model Training

This chapter explores the intricate post-training processes for large language models, contrasting open-source and closed-company methodologies. It emphasizes the significance of human feedback in instruction and preference tuning, as well as the technical challenges that affect model performance. The discussion further covers the computational aspects, cost efficiencies, and advancements in reinforcement learning that enhance the models' capabilities in handling various tasks.

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In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, we dive deep into frontier post-training techniques for large language models with Nathan Lambert from the Allen Institute for AI. Nathan discusses the groundbreaking Tulu 3 release, which matches Meta's post-training performance using the LlAMA base model. We explore supervised fine-tuning, preference-based reinforcement learning, and the innovative reinforcement learning from verifiable reward technique. Nathan provides unprecedented insights into the practical aspects of model development, compute requirements, and data generation strategies. This technically rich conversation illuminates previously opaque aspects of LLM development, achieved by a small team of 10-15 people. Join us for one of our most detailed and valuable discussions on state-of-the-art AI model development.

Check out Nathan's Lambert newsletter:

https://www.natolambert.com

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CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) Teaser

(00:00:59) Sponsors: Incogni

(00:02:20) About the Episode

(00:05:56) Introducing AI2

(00:09:56) Tulu: Deep Dive (Part 1)

(00:17:43) Sponsors: Shopify | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)

(00:20:38) Open vs. Closed Recipes

(00:29:48) Compute & Value (Part 1)

(00:34:22) Sponsors: 80,000 Hours | Notion