Hyperparameter tuning at scale – challenges and solutions
When tuning hyperparameters for LLMs, we face several challenges:
- Computational cost: Training LLMs is expensive, limiting the number of trials we can run
- Long training times: Each trial can take days or weeks, making the entire process very time-consuming
- Large search space: LLMs have many hyperparameters, creating a vast search space
- Sensitivity to initialization: LLM performance can vary significantly with different random seeds
To address these challenges, we can employ several strategies:
- Use smaller proxy tasks: Instead of tuning on the full task, use a smaller dataset or fewer training steps to get a quick estimate of performance
- Leverage pre-trained models: Start from pre-trained weights and focus on tuning fine-tuning hyperparameters
- Use multi-fidelity optimization: Start with low-fidelity evaluations (e.g., few training steps) and gradually increase fidelity for promising...