Are Large Language Models Good Prompt Optimizers?
LLM-based Automatic Prompt Optimization, which typically utilizes LLMs as Prompt Optimizers to self-reflect and refine prompts, has shown promising performance in recent studies. Despite the success, the underlying mechanism of this approach remains unexplored, and the true effectiveness of LLMs as Prompt Optimizers requires further validation. In this work, we conducted a comprehensive study to uncover the actual mechanism of LLM-based Prompt Optimization. Our findings reveal that the LLM optimizers struggle to identify the true causes of errors during reflection, tending to be biased by their own prior knowledge rather than genuinely reflecting on the errors. Furthermore, even when the reflection is semantically valid, the LLM optimizers often fail to generate appropriate prompts for the target models with a single prompt refinement step, partly due to the unpredictable behaviors of the target models. Based on the observations, we introduce a new "Automatic Behavior Optimization" paradigm, which directly optimizes the target model's behavior in a more controllable manner. We hope our study can inspire new directions for automatic prompt optimization development.
Code (1)
Tasks
validSimilar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
metaTextGrad: Automatically optimizing language model optimizers
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used in learning algorithms, evaluations, and optimization tasks. Recent studies have shown that using LLM-based optimizers to automatically optimize model prompts, demonstra…
Language ModelingLanguage ModellingmodelUnleashing the Potential of Large Language Models as Prompt Optimizers: Analogical Analysis with Gradient-based Model Optimizers
Automatic prompt optimization is an important approach to improving the performance of large language models (LLMs). Recent research demonstrates the potential of using LLMs as prompt optimizers, which can generate impro…
MMLUEvoPrompt: Connecting LLMs with Evolutionary Algorithms Yields Powerful Prompt Optimizers
Large Language Models (LLMs) excel in various tasks, but they rely on carefully crafted prompts that often demand substantial human effort. To automate this process, in this paper, we propose a novel framework for discre…
Evolutionary AlgorithmsLarge Language Models as Optimizers
Optimization is ubiquitous. While derivative-based algorithms have been powerful tools for various problems, the absence of gradient imposes challenges on many real-world applications. In this work, we propose Optimizati…
GSM8KHUB: Guiding Learned Optimizers with Continuous Prompt Tuning
Learned optimizers are a crucial component of meta-learning. Recent advancements in scalable learned optimizers have demonstrated their superior performance over hand-designed optimizers in various tasks. However, certai…
Meta-Learning