aiqbench analysis
InfoMamba addresses the computational bottleneck of Transformers by replacing self-attention with a hybrid architecture that combines selective state-space models and a linear filtering layer. This approach achieves near-linear scaling while maintaining competitive accuracy on classification and dense prediction tasks through an information-maximizing fusion mechanism. The work represents a significant methodological advance in sequence modeling, offering a viable path toward efficient long-range dependency capture without quadratic complexity.
InfoMamba: An Attention-Free Hybrid Mamba-Transformer Model
arXiv:2603.18031v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Balancing fine-grained local modeling with long-range dependency capture under computational constraints remains a central challenge in sequence modeling. While Transformers provide strong token mixing, they suffer from quadratic complexity, whereas Mamba-style selective state-space models (SSMs) scale linearly but often struggle to capture high-rank and synchronous global interactions. We present a consistency boundary analysis that characterizes when diagonal short-memory SSMs can approximate causal attention and identifies structural gaps that remain. Motivated by this analysis, we propose InfoMamba, an attention-free hybrid architecture. InfoMamba replaces token-level self-attention with a concept bottleneck linear filtering layer that serves as a minimal-bandwidth global interface and integrates it with a selective recurrent stream through information-maximizing fusion (IMF). IMF dynamically injects global context into the SSM dynamics and encourages complementary information usage through a mutual-information-inspired objective. Extensive experiments on classification, dense prediction, and non-vision tasks show that InfoMamba consistently outperforms strong Transformer and SSM baselines, achieving competitive accuracy-efficiency trade-offs while maintaining near-linear scaling.
Abstract:Balancing fine-grained local modeling with long-range dependency capture under computational constraints remains a central challenge in sequence modeling. While Transformers provide strong token mixing, they suffer from quadratic complexity, whereas Mamba-style selective state-space models (SSMs) scale linearly but often struggle to capture high-rank and synchronous global interactions. We present a consistency boundary analysis that characterizes when diagonal short-memory SSMs can approximate causal attention and identifies structural gaps that remain. Motivated by this analysis, we propose InfoMamba, an attention-free hybrid architecture. InfoMamba replaces token-level self-attention with a concept bottleneck linear filtering layer that serves as a minimal-bandwidth global interface and integrates it with a selective recurrent stream through information-maximizing fusion (IMF). IMF dynamically injects global context into the SSM dynamics and encourages complementary information usage through a mutual-information-inspired objective. Extensive experiments on classification, dense prediction, and non-vision tasks show that InfoMamba consistently outperforms strong Transformer and SSM baselines, achieving competitive accuracy-efficiency trade-offs while maintaining near-linear scaling.
Machine Learning (cs.LG); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
arXiv:2603.18031 [cs.LG]
(or arXiv:2603.18031v2 [cs.LG] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.18031 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.
Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.
Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.
Full text under the publisher's open licence · 250 words
Related coverage

Can we change an AI model’s architecture without retraining it from scratch?
Amazon Science · Oct 12, 2026
[AINews] High Taste Testers Ep. 1
Latent Space · Oct 17, 2026
Zebra-HyLo: Upcycling Transformers into Long-Context Hybrid LLMs on AMD Instinct™ GPUs
AMD · Sep 22, 2026

NVIDIA AI Releases Nemotron 3 Ultra: An Open 550B Mixture-of-Experts Hybrid Mamba-Transformer for Long-Running Agents
MarkTechPost · Jun 4, 2026