Exploring the Frontier of 1-bit Machine Learning Models: A Leap Towards Compute

Efficiency and Its Code

In the realm of machine learning, the quest for efficiency is relentless. Recent
breakthroughs, such as BitNet and the intriguing 1.58-bit quantization, have
spotlighted the potential of extreme low-bit quantization. This revolutionary
approach promises a dramatic shift in compute efficiency, especially for large
models, by leveraging matrix multiplication without the need for traditional
multiplications.

🔍 Latest work builds upon this innovative theme, diving deep into the realm of 1-bit
and 2-bit quantization, but with a twist. Unlike previous studies focused on building
models from scratch, we explore the exciting possibility of directly quantizing pre-
trained models, such as the renowned Llama2.

The goal? To unlock the full potential of these models under extreme quantization
settings without the hefty costs of training from scratch.

✨ Introducing HQQ+: A New Milestone in Model Quantization by Mobius Labs

The journey led to the development of HQQ+, an enhanced quantization framework

that adapts HQQ's methodology with a low-rank adapter for superior performance.
The results?

Even with binary weights, our fine-tuned models showcase remarkable

improvements in output quality, challenging the notion that extreme quantization
compromises performance.

📈 Surprising Insights from Our Experiments

🔸 1-bit Quantization: Against all odds, fine-tuning a mere fraction of parameters

greatly enhances model output, surpassing smaller full-precision models in some
cases.

🔸 Efficient Matrix Multiplication: We've devised a way to leverage low-bit matrix

multiplication to our advantage, potentially revolutionizing the compute landscape
for machine learning.

🔸 The Power of Fine-tuning: Employing low-rank adapters not only refines the
quantization process but also significantly boosts the models' capabilities,
particularly in specialized tasks.

🔗 ExploreHQQ Models on Hugging Face: https://lnkd.in/dVjMBNjK

🧑‍💻 Colab Code: https://lnkd.in/dDcZg4aK

Dive into our 1-bit and 2-bit models on Hugging Face to see the future of efficient
computing in action.

💡 Rethinking Model Efficiency:

Our findings ignite a new debate between the efficacy of quantized larger models
versus smaller models built from scratch. The evidence suggests that with tools like
HQQ+, we can achieve unparalleled performance while maintaining minimal
compute and memory footprint.

🌟 Conclusion:

The journey into extreme low-bit quantization with HQQ+ uncovers a promising path
toward making large machine learning models more accessible and efficient. As we
continue to push the boundaries of what's possible, we invite the community to join
us in exploring these new frontiers.

P.S: Stay tuned for more updates as we delve deeper into the potential of 1-bit and
2-bit quantization.
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