ZOIF: Zeroth-Order Influence Function Estimation for LLM Data Selection Using Only Forward Passes
Influence functions enable principled data selection for large language models (e.g., identifying influential training samples for model editing, debugging, or efficient fine-tuning). However, scaling IFs to LLMs is hindered by the intractability of billion-scale Hessian matrices and the prohibitive memory overhead of backpropagation (BP). While many classical IF approximations reduce Hessian complexity, they still rely on BP for gradient computation, requiring massive storage for intermediate activations that impedes practical data selection at scale. To address this, we propose ZOIF, a zeroth-order framework for influence estimation that operates entirely via forward passes, enabling me...
| Authors | Lisong He, Yunxuan Jiang, Haishan Ye et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 11 October 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 11 October 2026 |
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