arXiv Machine Learning

Pattern Formation in Transformers

arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 25

Emergent Capabilities Arise Randomly from Learning Sparse Attention Patterns

arXiv:2606. 25010v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Neural scaling laws for transformer language models predict smooth improvements in pretraining loss with increasing parameters, but downstream capabilities such as in-context learning are known to emerge abruptly past a certain model scale.

By Vatsal Baherwani, Zixi Chen, Shikai Qiu, Andrew Gordon Wilson, Pavel Izmailov
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 7

Incremental Learning of Sparse Attention Patterns in Transformers

arXiv:2602. 19143v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: This paper studies simple transformers trained on a high-order Markov chain, where the model must incorporate information from multiple past positions, each with different statistical importance.

By O\u{g}uz Kaan Y\"uksel, Rodrigo Alvarez Lucendo, Nicolas Flammarion
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Jul 13

Invariant Learning Dynamics of Transformers in Inductive Reasoning Tasks

We present a theoretical framework to explain the emergence of inductive reasoning abilities in Transformer language models. While previous works on Transformer learning dynamics have so far been mostly tied to specific tasks, we study a generalized class of inductive tasks that unifies several synthetic tasks known in the literature, including in-context n-grams and multi-hop reasoning.

arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 2

FAiT: Frequency-Aware Inverted Transformer for Multivariate Time Series Forecasting

arXiv:2606. 01306v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: While Transformer-based architectures have established themselves as a dominant paradigm in Multivariate Time Series Forecasting (MTSF), their core self-attention mechanism inherently functions as a low-pass filter, systematically smoothing out high-frequency signals vital for sharp local changes.

By Peng He, Yao Liu, Yanglei Gan, Run Lin, Yuxiang Cai, Qiao Liu
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 10

Conditioned Initialization for Attention

arXiv:2609.07086v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Transformers are a dominant architecture in modern machine learning, powering applications across vision, language, and beyond. At the core of their su...

By Hemanth Saratchandran, Simon Lucey
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 8

Attention Sink in Transformers: A Survey on Utilization, Interpretation, and Mitigation

arXiv:2604. 10098v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: As the foundational architecture of modern machine learning, Transformers have driven remarkable progress across diverse AI domains.

By Zunhai Su, Hengyuan Zhang, Wei Wu, Yifan Zhang, Yaxiu Liu, He Xiao, Qingyao Yang, Yuxuan Sun, Rui Yang, Chao Zhang, Jing Xiong, Hui Shen, Keyu Fan, Weihao Ye, Chaofan Tao, Taiqiang Wu, Zhongwei Wan, Tiantian Zhang, Bowen Yan, Zhen Li, Yiming Zhang, Congkai Xie, Yulei Qian, Yuchen Xie, Yik-Chung Wu, Hongxia Yang, Ngai Wong