一种基于最优控制的Transformer训练方法 / An Optimal Control Approach To Transformer Training
1️⃣ 一句话总结
这篇论文提出了一种基于最优控制理论的全新Transformer训练框架,通过将模型建模为粒子系统并提升到概率空间,证明了全局最优策略的存在性,并设计了一种量化训练方法,为传统梯度训练提供了一个不依赖平滑性或凸性的全局最优且鲁棒的替代方案。
In this paper, we develop a rigorous optimal control-theoretic approach to Transformer training that respects key structural constraints such as (i) realized-input-independence during execution, (ii) the ensemble control nature of the problem, and (iii) positional dependence. We model the Transformer architecture as a discrete-time controlled particle system with shared actions, exhibiting noise-free McKean-Vlasov dynamics. While the resulting dynamics is not Markovian, we show that lifting it to probability measures produces a fully-observed Markov decision process (MDP). Positional encodings are incorporated into the state space to preserve the sequence order under lifting. Using the dynamic programming principle, we establish the existence of globally optimal policies under mild assumptions of compactness. We further prove that closed-loop policies in the lifted is equivalent to an initial-distribution dependent open-loop policy, which are realized-input-independent and compatible with standard Transformer training. To train a Transformer, we propose a triply quantized training procedure for the lifted MDP by quantizing the state space, the space of probability measures, and the action space, and show that any optimal policy for the triply quantized model is near-optimal for the original training problem. Finally, we establish stability and empirical consistency properties of the lifted model by showing that the value function is continuous with respect to the perturbations of the initial empirical measures and convergence of policies as the data size increases. This approach provides a globally optimal and robust alternative to gradient-based training without requiring smoothness or convexity.
一种基于最优控制的Transformer训练方法 / An Optimal Control Approach To Transformer Training
这篇论文提出了一种基于最优控制理论的全新Transformer训练框架,通过将模型建模为粒子系统并提升到概率空间,证明了全局最优策略的存在性,并设计了一种量化训练方法,为传统梯度训练提供了一个不依赖平滑性或凸性的全局最优且鲁棒的替代方案。
源自 arXiv: 2603.09571