@no_stp_on_snek: fine-tuning field notes small behavior tweaks are a waterbed: push one spot down and another pops up. i trained a model…
Summary
A fine-tuning practitioner observes that adjusting one behavior in a model often causes unintended changes elsewhere, like a waterbed effect. Fixing pushback refusal silently broke strict formatting adherence, and subsequent fixes led to over-agreement or excessive refusal.
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Cached at: 06/30/26, 05:38 AM
fine-tuning field notes
small behavior tweaks are a waterbed: push one spot down and another pops up. i trained a model to stop caving to pushback. it worked, and it quietly broke its ability to follow strict formatting. push the backbone up, it starts refusing too much. fix that, it starts agreeing with everything again. behaviors you’d swear were unrelated are tangled together inside the model.
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