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Sep 17, 2023

DeepMind discovers that AI large language models can optimize their own prompts

Posted by in categories: information science, mathematics, robotics/AI

When people program new deep learning AI models — those that can focus on the right features of data by themselves — the vast majority rely on optimization algorithms, or optimizers, to ensure the models have a high enough rate of accuracy. But one of the most commonly used optimizers — derivative-based optimizers— run into trouble handling real-world applications.

In a new paper, researchers from DeepMind propose a new way: Optimization by PROmpting (OPRO), a method that uses AI large language models (LLM) as optimizers. The unique aspect of this approach is that the optimization task is defined in natural language rather than through formal mathematical definitions.

The researchers write, “Instead of formally defining the optimization problem and deriving the update step with a programmed solver, we describe the optimization problem in natural language, then instruct the LLM to iteratively generate new solutions based on the problem description and the previously found solutions.”

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