Scale Determines Whether Language Models Organize Representation Geometry for Prediction
Not on the map. Why?
Abstract (arXiv)
In language models, what a representation encodes is determined by the geometry of its representation space: distances, not activations, carry meaning. Existing tools characterize the shape of this geometry but do not ask what that shape is organized for. We introduce Subspace PGA, a metric that tests whether a layer's distance structure aligns with the readout subspace of the unembedding matrix WU more than with random subspaces of equal size. Across seven Pythia models (70M--6.9B) and three cross-family models, intermediate geometry is significantly organized for prediction (peak z = 9--24), but the degree is scale-dependent: small models (d ≤ 1024) progressively lose it at late layers during training -- even as loss keeps improving -- while large models (d ≥ 2048) preserve it throughout. We trace this to a capacity trade-off: a few dominant directions migrate away from WU's readout, masking rather than destroying the predictive structure beneath, and removing them restores alignment. Neither spectral metrics nor loss curves capture this distinction. Scale thus determines not only how well a model predicts, but how its representation geometry is organized to do so.
Key facts. Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 28 of its 39 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 16 May 2026.
Builds on
28 of 39 references.
References · 28
- 2024Gemma 2: Improving Open Language Models at a Practical Sizecited by 1,998
- 2023Pythia: A Suite for Analyzing Large Language Models Across Training and Scalingcited by 1,786
- 2019How Contextual are Contextualized Word Representations? Comparing the Geometry of BERT, ELMo, and GPT-2 Embeddingscited by 784
- 2023The Linear Representation Hypothesis and the Geometry of Large Language Modelscited by 716
- 2023The Geometry of Truth: Emergent Linear Structure in Large Language Model Representations of True/False Datasetscited by 712
- 2023Eliciting Latent Predictions from Transformers with the Tuned Lenscited by 623
- 2024OLMo: Accelerating the Science of Language Modelscited by 613
- 2023Textbooks Are All You Need II: phi-1.5 technical reportcited by 565
- 2017Opening the Black Box of Deep Neural Networks via Informationcited by 503
- 2022Emergent World Representations: Exploring a Sequence Model Trained on a Synthetic Taskcited by 431
- 2021Attention is Not All You Need: Pure Attention Loses Rank Doubly Exponentially with Depthcited by 419
- 2023Language Models Represent Space and Timecited by 316
16 more
- 2025Layer by Layer: Uncovering Hidden Representations in Language Modelscited by 311
- 2019Representation Degeneration Problem in Training Natural Language Generation Modelscited by 255
- 2023Language Modeling Is Compressioncited by 225
- 2017All-but-the-Top: Simple and Effective Postprocessing for Word Representationscited by 212
- 2021Revisiting Model Stitching to Compare Neural Representationscited by 209
- 2024The Geometry of Categorical and Hierarchical Concepts in Large Language Modelscited by 159
- 2022Analyzing Transformers in Embedding Spacecited by 132
- 2023The geometry of hidden representations of large transformer modelscited by 112
- 2024Transformers represent belief state geometry in their residual streamcited by 77
- 2024Spectral Filters, Dark Signals, and Attention Sinkscited by 56
- 2025Shared Global and Local Geometry of Language Model Embeddingscited by 36
- 2025Tracing the Representation Geometry of Language Models from Pretraining to Post-trainingcited by 35
- 2024Implicit Geometry of Next-token Prediction: From Language Sparsity Patterns to Model Representationscited by 24
- 2024Seq-VCR: Preventing Collapse in Intermediate Transformer Representations for Enhanced Reasoningcited by 9
- 2026Why Linear Interpretability Works: Invariant Subspaces as a Result of Architectural Constraintscited by 3
- 2026Disentangling Geometry, Performance, and Training in Language Modelscited by 3
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 2.
2 papers.
- 2026The Geometry of Inference in Transformer Residual Streams29 Sep 2026
- 2026Decodable In-Context State and Model Output Across Training25 Sep 2026