mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

ARWKV: Pretrain is not what we need, an RNN-Attention-Based Language Model Born from Transformer

arXiv 2501.15570 ↗First posted 26 Jan 2025cs.CLcited by 9

On the map: LLM safety and security → Machine unlearning

Abstract (arXiv)

As is known, hybrid quadratic and subquadratic attention models in multi-head architectures have surpassed both Transformer and Linear RNN models , with these works primarily focusing on reducing KV complexity and improving efficiency. For further research on expressiveness, we introduce our series of models distilled from Qwen 2.5, based on pure native RWKV-7 attention, which aims to make RNN more expressive and demonstrates state tracking ability beyond transformers. We work with QRWK 32B based on RWKV-6 architecture, another approach that reduces the entire knowledge processing time to just 8 hours using 16 AMD MI300X GPUs while maintaining Qwen 2.5's performance. In fact, the distillation process can utilize any LLM, not just Qwen, and enables knowledge transfer from larger LLMs to smaller ones with more fewer tokens. We will explain the detailed process and share our insights on building more powerful foundation models. Please note that this is an ongoing work that will be updated continuously. The model checkpoints and source code are available at hrefhttps://github.com/yynil/RWKVInsidehttps://github.com/yynil/RWKVInside, hrefhttps://huggingface.co/RWKV-Red-Team/ARWKV-7B-Preview-0.1https://huggingface.co/RWKV-Red-Team/ARWKV-7B-Preview-0.1.

Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Machine unlearning, one of 12 directions in LLM safety and security. Builds on 13 of its 13 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Jan 2025.

Builds on

13 of 13 references.

References · 13

  1. 2025DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learningcited by 6,146
  2. 2024Qwen2.5 Technical Reportcited by 4,713
  3. 2020Meta-Learning in Neural Networks: A Surveycited by 944
  4. 2023Gated Linear Attention Transformers with Hardware-Efficient Trainingcited by 490
  5. 2024Parallelizing Linear Transformers with the Delta Rule over Sequence Lengthcited by 373
  6. 2024Magpie: Alignment Data Synthesis from Scratch by Prompting Aligned LLMs with Nothingcited by 341
  7. 2024A Survey on Knowledge Distillation of Large Language Modelscited by 276
  8. 2024The Illusion of State in State-Space Modelscited by 181
  9. 2024Eagle and Finch: RWKV with Matrix-Valued States and Dynamic Recurrencecited by 155
  10. 2024The Mamba in the Llama: Distilling and Accelerating Hybrid Modelscited by 120
  11. 2024Unlocking State-Tracking in Linear RNNs Through Negative Eigenvaluescited by 97
  12. 2024Hymba: A Hybrid-head Architecture for Small Language Modelscited by 95
1 more
  1. 2024Does Representation Matter? Exploring Intermediate Layers in Large Language Modelscited by 31

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 7; 2026: 2.

9 papers.