← 研踪 PaperTrailarXiv:2609.24504 · v3
On Emergent Capabilities and Model Merging
首次提交 2026-09-21 20:44
版本更新 2026-11-08 22:03
雷达观测 2026-11-10 12:16
摘要
Model merging combines separately fine-tuned checkpoints by arithmetic on their weights, and is now a routine way to assemble capabilities cheaply. We ask what it does to emergent capabilities: behaviors that arise from fine-tuning but were never an explicit training target. Studying two independent testbeds (activation oracles and emergent-misaligned models) across three model families, we find that the answer is threefold. First, merging preserves an emergent capability that both parents carry: merging two misaligned checkpoints retains most of their broad misalignment across the whole mixing range. Second, merging cannot create an emergent capability that is superadditive in its parents: no weighted merge of two single-task oracles reaches the jointly-trained oracle's auditing ability. Third, when only one parent carries the capability, merging dilutes it faster than the trained capability that accompanies it: the gap is significant in most settings.
作者备注：main paper has 9 pages, 5 figures, and 4 tables
观测到的版本
相邻记录可能跳过中间版本；首次发现 v2 及以上也会标为版本更新。
v3 · 2026-11-08 22:03 · 最新观测版本
On Emergent Capabilities and Model Merging
Model merging combines separately fine-tuned checkpoints by arithmetic on their weights, and is now a routine way to assemble capabilities cheaply. We ask what it does to emergent capabilities: behaviors that arise from fine-tuning but were never an explicit training target. Studying two independent testbeds (activation oracles and emergent-misaligned models) across three model families, we find that the answer is threefold. First, merging preserves an emergent capability that both parents carry: merging two misaligned checkpoints retains most of their broad misalignment across the whole mixing range. Second, merging cannot create an emergent capability that is superadditive in its parents: no weighted merge of two single-task oracles reaches the jointly-trained oracle's auditing ability. Third, when only one parent carries the capability, merging dilutes it faster than the trained capability that accompanies it: the gap is significant in most settings.
查看此版本解读 →查看此版本原文 ↗