The Quest for Efficient Reasoning: A Data-Centric Benchmark to CoT Distillation
#DC-CoT #LLM distillation #Chain-of-Thought #Model efficiency #Data-centric AI #Benchmarking #arXiv
📌 Key Takeaways
- Introduction of DC-CoT, the first benchmark for data-centric Chain-of-Thought distillation.
- The framework evaluates data augmentation, selection, and mixing strategies for smaller LLMs.
- The research aims to maintain high reasoning levels in efficient, smaller-scale student models.
- DC-CoT provides a standardized methodology to fill a gap in existing AI performance evaluation.
📖 Full Retelling
Researchers specializing in artificial intelligence published a revised paper on the arXiv repository on May 20, 2024, introducing DC-CoT, a comprehensive benchmark designed to evaluate how data-centric distillation techniques—such as data augmentation and selection—impact the reasoning capabilities of smaller language models. This initiative addresses a critical gap in the field of machine learning, where developers seek to transfer complex logical processing from massive, resource-heavy AI models to more efficient versions suitable for everyday hardware. By providing a structured framework, the researchers aim to standardize how the industry measures the effectiveness of 'Chain-of-Thought' (CoT) reasoning when distilled into student models.
The core of the DC-CoT framework focuses on three primary pillars of data manipulation: augmentation, selection, and mixing. Traditionally, knowledge distillation has focused heavily on the architecture of the neural networks, but this research shifts the perspective to the quality and organization of the training data itself. The benchmark allows developers to understand which specific data mixtures lead to the most significant gains in logical performance, potentially lowering the computational costs associated with deploying sophisticated AI. This is particularly vital as the demand for 'Local AI' grows, requiring high-reasoning capabilities within devices like smartphones and laptops.
Furthermore, the introduction of DC-CoT provides the first systematic assessment tool for investigating how the complexity of reasoning paths affects student model outcomes. Before this benchmark, there was no unified protocol to compare different data-centric strategies, often leading to inconsistent results across different research labs. By establishing this baseline, the scientific community can now more effectively collaborate on creating compact Large Language Models (LLMs) that do not sacrifice the deep-thinking traits of their larger counterparts. This move marks a significant step toward making high-level intelligence more accessible and environmentally sustainable by reducing the energy requirements for model inference.
🏷️ Themes
Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Machine Learning
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📄 Original Source Content
arXiv:2505.18759v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Data-centric distillation, including data augmentation, selection, and mixing, offers a promising path to creating smaller, more efficient student Large Language Models (LLMs) that retain strong reasoning abilities. However, there still lacks a comprehensive benchmark to systematically assess the effect of each distillation approach. This paper introduces DC-CoT, the first data-centric benchmark that investigates data manipulation in chain-of-