Steering LLM Creativity with Temperature and Top P
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Harnessing the interplay of temperature and Top P in LLMs for creative text generation, presented as a "cookbook" workflow with recipes and explanations. Distilled from stunspot article
Understanding the Parameters:
- Temperature: Controls the randomness of the LLM's output. Think of it as the "chaos" dial. Higher temperatures lead to more unpredictable and creative text, while lower temperatures result in more predictable and focused responses.
- Top P (Nucleus Sampling): Controls how focused the LLM is on the most likely next words. Lower Top P values make the LLM more selective, considering only the most probable options, leading to more coherent and less surprising text. Higher Top P values expand the range of considered words, increasing the chances of unexpected and creative turns of phrase.
Cookbook Workflow & Recipes:
| Recipe Name | Temperature | Top P | Description | Example Use Cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Factual & Focused | 0 - 0.2 | 0.1 - 0.5 | Highly predictable and deterministic output. Focuses on the most likely next words, minimizing randomness. | Summarization, factual question answering, technical documentation, code documentation |
| Conversational & Balanced | 0.55 - 0.8 | 0.5 - 0.8 | Similar to ChatGPT's default settings. Provides a good balance between coherence and creativity. Suitable for general-purpose conversation and creative writing where predictability is important. | Chatbots, dialogue generation, story writing, general creative writing |
| Creative & Controlled | 1.0 - 1.2 | 0.1 - 0.2 | Encourages creative text generation while maintaining a strong focus on coherence. The LLM explores less probable words but remains grounded in the most likely options. | Poetry, song lyrics, stylistic writing, creative fiction, imaginative storytelling, character backstories |
| Highly Creative & Unpredictable | 1.2 - 1.6 | 0.1 - 0.2 | Emphasizes creativity and unpredictability. The LLM explores a wide range of less probable words, resulting in more surprising and imaginative text. Requires careful control with low Top P to avoid incoherence. | Experimental writing, brainstorming, surrealism, stream of consciousness, generating unexpected and surprising combinations of words and concepts, worldbuilding |
| Modelmemdump (Avoid) | > 1.6 | > 0.2 | Highly random and often nonsensical output. The LLM jumps between unrelated topics and generates incoherent text. | Generally avoid this combination unless you're specifically aiming for chaotic and unpredictable output. |
Explanations and Rationale:
- Low Temperature, Low Top P: Maximizes predictability and minimizes surprises. Suitable for tasks requiring factual accuracy and focused responses.
- Medium Temperature, Medium Top P: Balances coherence and creativity, mimicking human-like conversation. Suitable for general-purpose chatbots and creative writing.
- High Temperature, Low Top P: The sweet spot for controlled creativity. Encourages the LLM to explore less likely words while maintaining a degree of coherence. This combination is ideal for generating creative text formats like poetry and song lyrics.
- High Temperature, High Top P (Modelbarf): Leads to chaotic and unpredictable output. The LLM jumps between unrelated concepts and generates nonsensical text. Generally avoid this combination unless specifically desired.