{"paper":{"title":"Unpacking Softmax: How Temperature Drives Representation Collapse, Compression, and Generalization","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["stat.ML"],"primary_cat":"cs.LG","authors_text":"Aurelien Lucchi, Mateusz Ostaszewski, Razvan Pascanu, Tin Sum Cheng, Tomasz Trzci\\'nski, Wojciech Masarczyk","submitted_at":"2025-06-02T11:38:10Z","abstract_excerpt":"The softmax function is a fundamental building block of deep neural networks, commonly used to define output distributions in classification tasks or attention weights in transformer architectures. Despite its widespread use and proven effectiveness, its influence on learning dynamics and learned representations remains poorly understood, limiting our ability to optimize model behavior. In this paper, we study the pivotal role of the softmax function in shaping the model's representation. We introduce the concept of rank deficit bias - a phenomenon in which softmax-based deep networks find sol"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2506.01562","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2506.01562/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}