Editing the Mind of Giants: An In-Depth Exploration of Pitfalls of Knowledge Editing in Large Language Models

Cheng-Hsun Hsueh, Paul Kuo-Ming Huang, Tzu-Han Lin, Che Wei Liao, Hung-Chieh Fang, Chao-Wei Huang, Yun-Nung Chen


Abstract
Knowledge editing is a rising technique for efficiently updating factual knowledge in large language models (LLMs) with minimal alteration of parameters. However, recent studies have identified side effects, such as knowledge distortion and the deterioration of general abilities, that have emerged after editing. Despite these findings, evaluating the pitfalls of knowledge editing often relies on inconsistent metrics and benchmarks, lacking a uniform standard. In response, this survey presents a comprehensive study of these side effects, providing a unified perspective on the challenges of knowledge editing in LLMs by conducting experiments with consistent metrics and benchmarks. Additionally, we review related works and outline potential research directions to address these limitations. Our survey highlights the limitations of current knowledge editing methods, emphasizing the need for a deeper understanding of the inner knowledge structures of LLMs and improved knowledge editing methods. To foster future research, we have released the complementary materials publicly (https://github.com/MiuLab/EditLLM-Survey).
Anthology ID:
2024.findings-emnlp.550
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2024
Month:
November
Year:
2024
Address:
Miami, Florida, USA
Editors:
Yaser Al-Onaizan, Mohit Bansal, Yun-Nung Chen
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
9417–9429
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.findings-emnlp.550
DOI:
10.18653/v1/2024.findings-emnlp.550
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Cheng-Hsun Hsueh, Paul Kuo-Ming Huang, Tzu-Han Lin, Che Wei Liao, Hung-Chieh Fang, Chao-Wei Huang, and Yun-Nung Chen. 2024. Editing the Mind of Giants: An In-Depth Exploration of Pitfalls of Knowledge Editing in Large Language Models. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2024, pages 9417–9429, Miami, Florida, USA. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Editing the Mind of Giants: An In-Depth Exploration of Pitfalls of Knowledge Editing in Large Language Models (Hsueh et al., Findings 2024)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.findings-emnlp.550.pdf