SITH: Semantic Interpreter for Transformer Hierarchy

Cheng Zhang, Jinxin Lv, Jingxu Cao, Jiachuan Sheng*, Dawei Song, Tiancheng Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

While Transformers and their derivatives have shown strong performance in various NLP tasks, understanding their internal mechanisms remains challenging. Mainstream interpretability research often focuses solely on numerical attributes, neglecting the complex semantic structure inherent in the model. We have developed the SITH(Semantic Interpreter for Transformer Hierarchy) framework to address this issue. We focus on creating universal text representation methods and uncovering the semantic principles of the Transformer's hierarchical structure. We use the convex hull method to represent sequence semantics in an n-dimensional Semantic Euclidean space and define different evaluation indicators through convex hull to analyze semantic quality and quantity changes. Our analysis takes a dual perspective: a multi-layer cumulative perspective and an individual layer-to-layer shift perspective. When applied to machine translation, our results reveal potential semantic processes and emphasize the effectiveness of stacking and hierarchical differences. These insights are valuable for fine-tuning hyperparameters at the encoder and decoder layers.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2024 IEEE 36th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, ICTAI 2024
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages102-107
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9798331527235
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes
Event36th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, ICTAI 2024 - Herndon, United States
Duration: 28 Oct 202430 Oct 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, ICTAI
ISSN (Print)1082-3409

Conference

Conference36th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, ICTAI 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHerndon
Period28/10/2430/10/24

Keywords

  • Convex Hull
  • Interpretability
  • Semantic Analysis
  • Transformer

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