aiqbench analysis
DECA addresses the resource bottleneck of full-parameter fine-tuning in decentralized LLM settings by partitioning model weights into blocks for sequential optimization. This approach mitigates client drift and unstable convergence on non-IID data through enhanced moment estimates, offering a viable path to high-performance adaptation without a central server. The method balances computational efficiency with the superior downstream capabilities of full-parameter updates, making it relevant for privacy-sensitive collaborative training.
DECA: Decentralizing Block-Wise Adam for Efficient LLM Full-Parameter Fine-Tuning on Non-IID Data
arXiv:2606.03209v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) in privacy-sensitive and resource-constrained environments remains challenging. Since training data are often distributed across multiple clients, decentralized fine-tuning offers a natural paradigm for collaborative adaptation without a central server. However, enabling full-parameter fine-tuning (FPFT) in this decentralized setting is difficult: FPFT provides strong adaptation capacity but incurs prohibitive resource consumption for billion-scale models. Existing decentralized LLM fine-tuning methods therefore mainly rely on parameter-efficient updates, which improve efficiency but may restrict downstream performance. Moreover, client data are typically non-IID, making decentralized optimization more vulnerable to client drift and unstable convergence. To address these challenges, we propose DECA, a resource-efficient decentralized FPFT framework for LLMs on non-IID data. DECA partitions model parameters into disjoint blocks and performs sequential block-wise Adam optimization, reducing resource consumption while preserving decentralized full-parameter adaptation. To stabilize training, DECA further introduces first- and second-order block-wise moment estimates with fresh local gradient statistics and consensus-derived discrepancy signals. We provide rigorous theoretical analysis and extensive experiments, showing that DECA achieves fast convergence, strong downstream performance, and significant resource efficiency.
Abstract:Fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) in privacy-sensitive and resource-constrained environments remains challenging. Since training data are often distributed across multiple clients, decentralized fine-tuning offers a natural paradigm for collaborative adaptation without a central server. However, enabling full-parameter fine-tuning (FPFT) in this decentralized setting is difficult: FPFT provides strong adaptation capacity but incurs prohibitive resource consumption for billion-scale models. Existing decentralized LLM fine-tuning methods therefore mainly rely on parameter-efficient updates, which improve efficiency but may restrict downstream performance. Moreover, client data are typically non-IID, making decentralized optimization more vulnerable to client drift and unstable convergence. To address these challenges, we propose DECA, a resource-efficient decentralized FPFT framework for LLMs on non-IID data. DECA partitions model parameters into disjoint blocks and performs sequential block-wise Adam optimization, reducing resource consumption while preserving decentralized full-parameter adaptation. To stabilize training, DECA further introduces first- and second-order block-wise moment estimates with fresh local gradient statistics and consensus-derived discrepancy signals. We provide rigorous theoretical analysis and extensive experiments, showing that DECA achieves fast convergence, strong downstream performance, and significant resource efficiency.
Machine Learning (cs.LG)
arXiv:2606.03209 [cs.LG]
(or arXiv:2606.03209v1 [cs.LG] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.03209 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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