竞争伦理框架的引导向量可互换：激活引导的竞争目标检验

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Abstract:Activation steering adds a vector to a model's hidden states to control a named behaviour. A gain on that behaviour, however, does not show that the vector controls it directly: it may act through a component shared with neighbouring behaviours, which unsteered and random baselines cannot separate. We introduce the competing-target test: a vector is compared with the vector built the same way for a competing target, and an equivalence test states when their difference is below a useful margin. We apply it in open-weight models to vectors for Kantian deontology, which judges an act by the rule it follows, and act utilitarianism, which judges it by the welfare it produces. On held-out situations, prompting a framework raises its score and lowers the other's, whereas vectors for either framework move both scores alike, and none reaches the margin. The two vectors share most of their direction, a request to apply some framework; the same construction separates an optimistic from a pessimistic tone, whose vectors share much less. What a vector shares with its competitors therefore sets what it controls: steering a perspective can deliver a mixture, and measuring a disposition can measure its neighbours, unless tested against the competing target.

Submission history

From: Weilun Xu [view email]
[v1] Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:00:35 UTC (355 KB)