CMSC848R: Selected Topics in Information Processing; Language Model Interpretability
Fall 2025
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30pm to 1:45pm
AJC (Clark Hall) 2132
Office hours:
- Instructor: Sarah Wiegreffe
Pronouns: she/her
Office Hours: 1:45-2:45pm Thurs (right after class in IRB 4210; starting 09/11)
- Teaching Assistant: Ming Li
Pronouns: he/his
Office Hours: 4:00-5:00pm Tues (IRB 2108; starting 09/09)
Resources:
[Syllabus] [Piazza] [Course Prospective Form][Presentation Signup and Paper Reading List]
[Course feedback form]
Course description:
This course focuses on state-of-the-art methods for interpreting language models and understanding their learned behaviors. We will discuss approaches centered on both understanding models’ internal mechanisms/representations and attributing behaviors back to the training data. We will focus on model tendencies including hallucination, factuality, memorization, and explanation/reasoning elicitation. If time allows, we will discuss recent developments in ameliorating learned behaviors, such as model editing, unlearning, and steering.
We will examine the current state-of-the-art methods, their limitations, and the ongoing efforts to address these challenges. Through this course, you will engage in paper discussions and gain a deeper understanding of the latest developments in the field and contribute to the ongoing discussions and research in this exciting area.
Schedule
| Date | Notes & Deadlines |
|---|---|
| September 2 (Tues) | Slides |
| September 4 (Thurs) | Deadline to submit prospective (11:59pm) Slides |
| September 9 (Tues) | Deadline to sign up for presentation slots (11:59pm) Slides |
| September 11 (Thurs) | |
| September 16 (Tues) | Logistics Slides Project Group Size Request Form |
| September 18 (Thurs) | |
| September 23 (Tues) | |
| September 25 (Thurs) | P0 Due |
| September 30 (Tues) | |
| October 2 (Thurs) | |
| October 7 (Tues) | |
| October 9 (Thurs) | No class or office hour (Sarah traveling to COLM) |
| October 14 (Tues) | No Class (Fall Break) |
| October 16 (Thurs) | |
| October 21 (Tues) | |
| October 23 (Thurs) | |
| October 28 (Tues) | |
| October 30 (Thurs) | |
| November 4 (Tues) | |
| November 6 (Thurs) | |
| November 11 (Tues) | |
| November 13 (Thurs) | |
| November 18 (Tues) | |
| November 20 (Thurs) | |
| November 25 (Tues) | |
| November 27 (Thurs) | No Class or Office Hour (Thanksgiving Break) |
| December 2 (Tues) | |
| December 4 (Thurs) | No class or office hour (Sarah traveling to NeurIPS) |
| December 9 (Tues) | Retrospective due (11:59pm) |
| December 11 (Thurs) | Last Day of Class |
| December 19 (Friday) | Deadline (11:59pm) for final project reports (in lieu of final exam) |