tech
December 3, 2025
Researchers isolate memorization from problem-solving in AI neural networks
Basic arithmetic ability lives in the memorization pathways, not logic circuits.
TL;DR
- Research from Goodfire.ai provides evidence of separate neural pathways for memorization and reasoning in AI language models.
- Removing memorization pathways resulted in a 97% loss of verbatim recall but largely preserved logical reasoning.
- Weight components associated with memorization clustered at the lower end of curvature rankings, while reasoning components clustered at the top.
- Arithmetic operations seem to share neural pathways with memorization, not logical reasoning, leading to performance drops when memorization pathways are removed.
- This suggests AI models may memorize arithmetic facts rather than compute them, similar to students memorizing times tables.
- The research used curvature analysis of loss landscapes and K-FAC techniques to differentiate neural pathways.
- The method showed promise for selectively removing memorized content, like copyrighted material, without harming core functionalities.
- Limitations include the potential for 'forgotten' information to be reactivated and an incomplete understanding of why math is linked to memorization.
Continue reading
the original article