FedOne: Query-Efficient Federated Learning for Black-box Discrete Prompt Learning

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14929v1
• Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2025 19:21:22 GMT
• Title: FedOne: Query-Efficient Federated Learning for Black-box Discrete Prompt Learning
• Authors: Ganyu Wang, Jinjie Fang, Maxwell J. Ying, Bin Gu, Xi Chen, Boyu Wang, Charles Ling,
• Abstract summary: Black-Box Discrete Prompt Learning is a prompt-tuning method that optimize discrete prompts without accessing model parameters or gradients.<n>We propose the FedOne framework, a federated black-box discrete prompt learning method designed to maximize query efficiency when interacting with cloud-based LLMs.
• Score: 19.60311157467143
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: Black-Box Discrete Prompt Learning is a prompt-tuning method that optimizes discrete prompts without accessing model parameters or gradients, making the prompt tuning on a cloud-based Large Language Model (LLM) feasible. Adapting federated learning to BDPL could further enhance prompt tuning performance by leveraging data from diverse sources. However, all previous research on federated black-box prompt tuning had neglected the substantial query cost associated with the cloud-based LLM service. To address this gap, we conducted a theoretical analysis of query efficiency within the context of federated black-box prompt tuning. Our findings revealed that degrading FedAvg to activate only one client per round, a strategy we called \textit{FedOne}, enabled optimal query efficiency in federated black-box prompt learning. Building on this insight, we proposed the FedOne framework, a federated black-box discrete prompt learning method designed to maximize query efficiency when interacting with cloud-based LLMs. We conducted numerical experiments on various aspects of our framework, demonstrating a significant improvement in query efficiency, which aligns with our theoretical results.

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