Why it matters

Emergence explains why scale matters. Understanding shapes expectations.

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The architecture

Small models: no ability.

Above threshold: ability appears.

Cause: possibly metric discontinuity.

Emergent abilitiesSmall modelno abilityThreshold scaleability emergesLargerability improvesSchaeffer et al. 2023 argue emergence is metric artifact of nonlinear scoring
Emergence.
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How it works end to end

Classic examples: CoT reasoning, in-context learning.

Schaeffer argument: smooth improvement + discontinuous metrics.

Reality: mix of both.