Equation 20 · Probing, Sparse Autoencoders, Patching, and Steering: The Main Interpretability Methods, Compared

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m_{\text{patch}}(\mathcal C)

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m_{\text{patch}}

Symbol m_patch

that same metric after the activations of component set $\mathcal C$ are copied from one run into the other.

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C

Symbol C

copied from one run into the other.

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subscript

The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.

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where $m_{\text{clean}}$ and $m_{\text{corrupt}}$ are a chosen behavioural metric measured on the clean and corrupted runs, and $m_{\text{patch}}(\mathcal C)$ is that same metric after the activations of component set $\mathcal C$ are copied from one run into the other. A score near one means patching $\mathcal C$ alone restores nearly all of the clean behaviour; a score near zero means it restores almost none.

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