Can we interpret latent reasoning using current mechanistic interpretability tools?

This article reports on research exploring the interpretability of latent reasoning in a language model. The study uses standard mechanistic interpretability techniques to analyze a model trained on math tasks. The key findings are that intermediate calculations are stored in specific latent vectors and can be identified through patching and the logit lens, although not perfectly. The research suggests that applying LLM interpretability techniques to latent reasoning models is a promising direction.

• •The study investigates the interpretability of latent reasoning in a language model.
• •Intermediate calculations are stored in specific latent vectors.
• •Mechanistic interpretability techniques like patching and logit lens are used.
• •The findings suggest a promising direction for applying LLM interpretability techniques to latent reasoning models.