Regularization
Regularization is a set of methods that constrain or modify the learning process to prevent the model from memorizing training data too precisely, encouraging it to learn more robust and generalizable patterns instead.
Regularization is a crucial aspect of training LLMs to prevent overfitting and improve generalization. Overfitting is detrimental because it causes a model to perform exceptionally well on training data while failing miserably on new, unseen data. When a model overfits, it essentially memorizes the noise and peculiarities of the training dataset, rather than learning generalizable patterns and relationships. This creates an illusion of high accuracy during development but leads to poor real-world performance, rendering the model ineffective for its intended purpose of making accurate predictions on novel inputs.
In this chapter, you’ll learn about different regularization techniques specifically tailored to LLMs. We’ll explore methods...