mechanistic-interventions

What problem does it solve?

Move from benchmark-driven analysis into causal or mechanism-oriented interventions. Covers activation patching, interchange, control design, read-vs-write distinctions, and intervention-specific success criteria, while pointing to future attention and routing follow-up work.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Intervention framing: define exact behavior to change, success criteria, malformed-output criteria, and intended direction of change.
• Site choice from the computation story: select plausible sites based on localization cues and timing, not ease of patching.
• Paired design and controls: prefer matched donor-target pairs, single-layer first tests, same-label controls, and purposeful control strategies.
• Interpretation discipline: track intended-direction flips, reverse-direction flips, malformed outputs, and same-label instability; separate causal evidence from broad destabilization.
• Follow-on mechanism work: point to likely next steps such as attention follow-up, routing/MoE follow-up, narrower span decomposition, and read-vs-write comparisons.

Quick Start

Draft an intervention plan detailing the target behavior, success criteria, plausible intervention sites, and a paired-control design.