Paper ID: 2403.07825

Efficiently Quantifying and Mitigating Ripple Effects in Model Editing

Jianchen Wang, Zhouhong Gu, Xiaoxuan Zhu, Lin Zhang, Haoning Ye, Zhuozhi Xiong, Hongwei Feng, Yanghua Xiao

Large Language Models have revolutionized numerous tasks with their remarkable efficacy. However, editing these models, crucial for rectifying outdated or erroneous information, often leads to a complex issue known as the ripple effect in the hidden space. While difficult to detect, this effect can significantly impede the efficacy of model editing tasks and deteriorate model performance. This paper addresses this scientific challenge by proposing a novel evaluation methodology, Graphical Impact Evaluation(GIE), which quantitatively evaluates the adaptations of the model and the subsequent impact of editing. Furthermore, we introduce the Selective Impact Revision(SIR), a model editing method designed to mitigate this ripple effect. Our comprehensive evaluations reveal that the ripple effect in the hidden space is a significant issue in all current model editing methods. However, our proposed methods, GIE and SIR, effectively identify and alleviate this issue, contributing to the advancement of LLM editing techniques.

Submitted: Mar 12, 2024