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Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models

Canonical reference. 86% of citing Pith papers cite this work as background.

121 Pith papers citing it
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Scaling up language models has been shown to predictably improve performance and sample efficiency on a wide range of downstream tasks. This paper instead discusses an unpredictable phenomenon that we refer to as emergent abilities of large language models. We consider an ability to be emergent if it is not present in smaller models but is present in larger models. Thus, emergent abilities cannot be predicted simply by extrapolating the performance of smaller models. The existence of such emergence implies that additional scaling could further expand the range of capabilities of language models.

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  • abstract Scaling up language models has been shown to predictably improve performance and sample efficiency on a wide range of downstream tasks. This paper instead discusses an unpredictable phenomenon that we refer to as emergent abilities of large language models. We consider an ability to be emergent if it is not present in smaller models but is present in larger models. Thus, emergent abilities cannot be predicted simply by extrapolating the performance of smaller models. The existence of such emergence implies that additional scaling could further expand the range of capabilities of language model

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On the Emergence of Syntax by Means of Local Interaction

cs.CL · 2026-04-20 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

A 2D neural cellular automaton spontaneously self-organizes into a Proto-CKY representation that exhibits syntactic processing capabilities for context-free grammars when trained on membership problems.

The Shrinking Lifespan of LLMs in Science

cs.DL · 2026-04-08 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

LLM adoption in science follows a compressing inverted-U trajectory where release year predicts time-to-peak and lifespan better than model attributes.

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