Transmuting prompts into weights
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Abstract (arXiv)
A growing body of research has demonstrated that the behavior of large language models can be effectively controlled at inference time by directly modifying their internal states, either through vector additions to their activations or through updates to their weight matrices. These techniques, while powerful, are often guided by empirical heuristics, such as deriving ``steering vectors'' from the average activations of contrastive prompts. Building on the foundational work of Dherin et al. (2025), who discovered that a prompt's influence mathematically maps to token-dependent implicit weight updates and introduced the initial concept of a static thought patch for prompt compression, we elevate this framework into a robust algorithm for direct model editing. We derive a principled method for condensing this transient information into token-independent thought vectors and thought matrices. These constructs provide a theoretical explanation for existing vector-and-matrix-based model editing techniques and offer a direct, computationally-grounded method for transmuting textual input into reusable weight updates for complex architectures and new knowledge injection.
Key facts. Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 34 of its 41 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Oct 2025.
Builds on
34 of 41 references.
References · 34
- 2022Locating and Editing Factual Associations in GPTcited by 2,691
- 2020GLU Variants Improve Transformercited by 1,804
- 2020Transformer Feed-Forward Layers Are Key-Value Memoriescited by 1,336
- 2022Editing Models with Task Arithmeticcited by 1,120
- 2023Steering Llama 2 via Contrastive Activation Additioncited by 1,085
- 2023Steering Language Models With Activation Engineeringcited by 922
- 2022Transformers learn in-context by gradient descentcited by 732
- 2022What Can Transformers Learn In-Context? A Case Study of Simple Function Classescited by 715
- 2022What learning algorithm is in-context learning? Investigations with linear modelscited by 684
- 2021Editing Factual Knowledge in Language Modelscited by 553
- 2021Fast Model Editing at Scalecited by 498
- 2025Persona Vectors: Monitoring and Controlling Character Traits in Language Modelscited by 345
22 more
- 2023In-Context Learning Creates Task Vectorscited by 312
- 2023Function Vectors in Large Language Modelscited by 308
- 2023In-context Vectors: Making In Context Learning More Effective and Controllable Through Latent Space Steeringcited by 245
- 2024Assessing the Brittleness of Safety Alignment via Pruning and Low-Rank Modificationscited by 231
- 2022Extracting Latent Steering Vectors from Pretrained Language Modelscited by 225
- 2022Why Can GPT Learn In-Context? Language Models Implicitly Perform Gradient Descent as Meta-Optimizerscited by 204
- 2024Analyzing the Generalization and Reliability of Steering Vectorscited by 143
- 2024Improving Steering Vectors by Targeting Sparse Autoencoder Featurescited by 92
- 2023Transformers Implement Functional Gradient Descent to Learn Non-Linear Functions In Contextcited by 63
- 2025A Unified Understanding and Evaluation of Steering Methodscited by 46
- 2025Learning without training: The implicit dynamics of in-context learningcited by 43
- 2024Towards Reliable Evaluation of Behavior Steering Interventions in LLMscited by 36
- 2024Model Editing as a Robust and Denoised variant of DPO: A Case Study on Toxicitycited by 35
- 2025Task Vectors in In-Context Learning: Emergence, Formation, and Benefitcited by 20
- 2024Comparing Bottom-Up and Top-Down Steering Approaches on In-Context Learning Taskscited by 14
- 2024Distributional Associations vs In-Context Reasoning: A Study of Feed-forward and Attention Layerscited by 12
- 2024Implicit In-context Learningcited by 11
- 2025Learning Task Representations from In-Context Learningcited by 11
- 2025Precise In-Parameter Concept Erasure in Large Language Modelscited by 11
- 2024Exact Conversion of In-Context Learning to Model Weights in Linearized-Attention Transformerscited by 7
- 2025Private Memorization Editing: Turning Memorization into a Defense to Strengthen Data Privacy in Large Language Modelscited by 7
- 2025Constructing Interpretable Features from Compositional Neuron Groupscited by 5
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 2.
3 papers.
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2026Why Prompt Optimization Works, and Why It Sometimes Doesn't: A Causal-Inspired Edit-Level Analysis
- 2026Prompt Compression via Activation Aggregation
- 2026Beyond the Covariance Trap: Unlocking Generalization in Same-Subject Knowledge Editing for Large Language Models
- 2024Efficient Prompting Methods for Large Language Models: A Survey
- 2026Neurosymbolic LoRA: Why and When to Tune Weights vs. Rewrite Prompts
- 2025Dynamic Compressing Prompts for Efficient Inference of Large Language Models
- 2025Revealing the Deceptiveness of Knowledge Editing: A Mechanistic Analysis of Superficial Editing
- 2026Interpreting and Controlling Model Behavior via Constitutions for Atomic Concept Edits