Buzzterms

Model Steering

Guiding an AI model's responses or behavior toward a desired outcome using instructions, settings, or techniques that influence how it operates.

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AI & Automation

In plain English

Model steering is about influencing what an AI does and how it responds. You might steer a model to be more concise, follow specific instructions, or approach a task in a particular way. Some steering methods use prompts or configurable settings, while more technical methods adjust the model's internal activity. Not every steering technique requires retraining the model.

Example

A company configures its AI assistant to answer customer questions in a concise, professional tone while following its support policies.

Sources

  1. arXiv: Steering Language Models With Activation Engineering
  2. Proceedings of Machine Learning Research: Steer Like the LLM - Activation Steering that Mimics Prompting