Simple and effective multi-token completion from masked language models

By Oren Kalinsky, Guy Kushilevitz, Alex Libov, Yoav Goldberg
2023
Download Copy BibTeX GitHub
Copy BibTeX
Pre-trained neural masked language models are often used for predicting a replacement token for a given sequence position, in a cloze-like task. However, this usage is restricted to predicting a single token, from a relatively small pre-trained vocabulary. Recent Sequence2Sequence pre-trained LMs like T5 do allow predicting multi-token completions, but are more expensive to train and run. We show that pre-trained masked language models can be adapted to produce multi-token completions, with only a modest addition to their parameter count. We propose two simple adaptation approaches, trading parameter counts for accuracy. The first method generates multitoken completions from a conditioned RNN. It has a very low parameter count and achieves competitive results. The second method is even simpler: it adds items corresponding to multi-token units to the output prediction matrix. While being higher in parameter count than the RNN method, it also surpasses current state-of-the-art multi-token completion models, including T5-3B, while being significantly more parameter efficient. We demonstrate that our approach is flexible to different vocabularies and domains and can effectively leverage existing pre-trained models available in different domains. Finally, a human evaluation further validates our results and shows that our solution regularly provides valid completions, as well as reasonable correctness for factual-sentence completions.
Research areas

Latest news

CN, 31, Shanghai
As an Applied Scientist, you will be responsible for bringing new product designs through to manufacturing. You will work closely with multi-disciplinary groups including Product Design, Industrial Design, Hardware Engineering, and Operations, to drive key aspects of engineering of consumer electronics products. In this role, you will use expertise in physical sciences, theoretical, numerical or empirical techniques to create scalable models representing response of physical systems or devices, including: * Applying domain scientific expertise towards developing innovative analysis and tests to study viability of new materials, designs or processes * Working closely with engineering teams to drive validation, optimization and implementation of hardware design or software algorithmic solutions to improve product and customer risks * Establishing scalable, efficient, automated processes to handle large scale design and data analysis * Conducting research into use conditions, materials and analysis techniques * Tracking general business activity including device health in field and providing clear, compelling reports to management on a regular basis * Developing, implementing guidelines to continually optimize design processes * Using simulation tools like LS-DYNA, and Abaqus for analysis and optimization of product design * Using of programming languages like Python and Matlab for analytical/statistical analyses and automation * Demonstrating strong understanding across multiple physical science domains, e.g. structural, thermal, fluid dynamics, and materials * Developing, analyzing and testing structural solutions from concept design, feature development, product architecture, through system validation * Supporting product development and optimization through application of analysis and testing of complex electronic assemblies using advanced simulation and experimentation tools and techniques
IL, Haifa
We are seeking an Applied Scientist to help build Amazon’s next-generation customer memory and personalization systems. Are you interested in building systems that move beyond reacting to customer behavior, to actually understanding and remembering it over time? Our team is building Amazon’s customer memory layer – a system that extracts, curates, and reasons over customer knowledge to power next-generation personalization. This includes transforming noisy, unstructured signals into durable, high-quality representations of customer preferences, intents, and life events, and using them in real time to improve customer experiences. We are part of Amazon’s Personalization organization, a high-performing group that leverages large-scale machine learning, generative AI, and distributed systems to deliver highly relevant customer experiences. We tackle challenging problems at the intersection of information extraction, knowledge representation, LLM reasoning, and recommendation systems. Our systems operate under real-world constraints of scale, latency, and quality, requiring careful tradeoffs between precision, recall, and responsiveness. This team plays a central role in defining how Amazon understands its customers, and how that understanding is applied across the shopping experience. As an Applied Scientist, you will design and build ML and LLM-powered solutions for Amazon's customer memory and personalization systems. You will work on how customer knowledge is extracted, validated, and applied in production systems. You will own the end-to-end delivery of ML solutions, from problem formulation and modeling to offline and online experimentation, and production deployment at scale. You will deliver high-quality, scalable systems that power customer-facing experiences. You will drive work across areas such as fact extraction, memory quality and lifecycle, temporal reasoning, and grounded personalization, while navigating tradeoffs between quality, latency, and coverage. You will collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to translate research into measurable customer impact. Please visit https://www.amazon.science for more information.
US, WA, Seattle
Are you passionate about solving big problems from ground-up? Do you enjoy building new state-of-the-art products at internet scale? Come lead the innovation in this startup team, vertical ad products. This is a green field problem without a known answer or a pattern to follow. We have ambitious vision to simplify full funnel advertising solutions, at scale, with specialized agentic AI-powered models and diversify the demand to strategic verticals including finserv, autos, locals.. etc. We are seeking an experienced Sr Data Scientist to drive innovation in our Ads Foundational Model. In this individual contributor role, you will apply advanced machine learning techniques to improve advertiser performance and customer experience. Key job responsibilities As a Data Scientist on this team, you will: 1. Develop and drive the science strategy for Ads Foundational Model (Ads-FM), aligning it with the program's objectives and overall business goals. 2. Identify high-impact opportunities within Ads-FM program and lead the ideation, planning, and execution of science initiatives to address them. 3. Build and deploy machine learning models using computer vision, natural language processing, and deep learning to evaluate and enhance ad effectiveness. 4. Develop algorithms that extract meaningful signals from image, video, and audio content to predict and improve customer engagement 5. Leverage Amazon's extensive data repository to create predictive models that generate actionable recommendations for more compelling ad creative 6. Collaborate with business leaders and cross-functional teams to implement ML-powered solutions 7. Contribute to the ML roadmap for the Ads-FM program through innovation and research.
US, WA, Seattle
You will build and lead the economics research agenda for measurement, experimentation, and value attribution for Amazon's Devices & Services organization. Your team is the "truth layer" of the Intelligence Core — the shared economics and causal inference capability that serves all Devices product lines, marketing pods, and Finance leadership with causal evidence of what Devices are worth and whether our investments are working. This is not a traditional analytics or measurement role. You will own an active research program in experimentation design — identifying and executing the causal studies that produce the causal inputs for pricing decisions, marketing optimization, and portfolio strategy. Your outputs provide the causal evidence base that L8 peers and senior leadership consume to make billions of dollars in investment decisions across the D&S portfolio. You will also own the economic models that validate and drive execution across the full surface area of marketing spend for devices and services. Key job responsibilities Economic Value: • Downstream value attribution for all Devices product lines — Impact on Prime, subscription lift, consumer spending, advertising value • Alexa+ value isolation and cross-PL attribution • Causal frameworks connecting device sales to Prime acquisition, subscription retention, and ecosystem engagement Marketing Science & Measurement: • Build the marketing science function from scratch • Incrementality measurement for marketing spend across all channels • Attribution methodology, measurement standards, and cross-pod governance • Marketing ROI frameworks for use by category marketers • CCM certification methodology and scenario planning models for optimal investment allocation Experimentation: • Owning the estimation methodology, identification strategies, data inputs/outputs, and refresh cadence • You will build this team's analytics function with AI at its core from day one • Experimentation governance — managing interference across teams, setting standards for causal validity • Evaluation framework for AI agents and autonomous optimization systems
US, WA, Seattle
Innovators wanted! Are you an entrepreneur? A builder? A dreamer? This role is part of an Amazon Special Projects team that takes the company’s Think Big leadership principle to the extreme. We focus on creating entirely new products and services with a goal of positively impacting the lives of our customers. No industries or subject areas are out of bounds. If you’re interested in innovating at scale to address big challenges in the world, this is the team for you. Here at Amazon, we embrace our differences. We are committed to furthering our culture of inclusion. We have thirteen employee-led affinity groups, reaching 40,000 employees in over 190 chapters globally. We are constantly learning through programs that are local, regional, and global. Amazon’s culture of inclusion is reinforced within our 16 Leadership Principles, which remind team members to seek diverse perspectives, learn and be curious, and earn trust. Our team highly values work-life balance, mentorship and career growth. We believe striking the right balance between your personal and professional life is critical to life-long happiness and fulfillment. We care about your career growth and strive to assign projects and offer training that will challenge you to become your best.
IN, KA, Bengaluru
Have you ever wondered how that Amazon box with the smile arrives so quickly, where it came from, and how much it cost Amazon to deliver? The WW Amazon Logistics, Business Analytics team manages the delivery of tens of millions of products every week to Amazon's customers, achieving on-time delivery in a cost-effective manner. We are seeking an enthusiastic, customer-obsessed Manager Research Science with strong analytical skills to join our team. This role is crucial in optimizing Amazon's vast delivery network and will have significant impact on the customer experience, particularly in the final phase of delivery. As a Manager Research Science, you will: 1. Address business challenges through building compelling cases and using data to influence change across the organization 2. Develop input and assumptions based on preexisting models to estimate costs and savings opportunities associated with varying levels of network growth and operations 3. Create metrics to measure business performance, identify root causes and trends, and prescribe action plans 4. Manage multiple high-impact projects simultaneously 5. Work with technology teams and product managers to develop new tools and systems supporting business growth 6. Communicate with and support various internal stakeholders and external audiences 7. Implement scheduling solutions, improve metrics, and develop scalable processes and tools The ideal candidate will have: - Extensive experience in operations research and data-driven decision making - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills - Robust program management and research science skills - Ability to work with a team and make independent decisions in ambiguous environments - Customer-obsessed mindset with a focus on improving the Amazon delivery experience This role offers the autonomy to think strategically and make data-driven decisions from day one. Join us in shaping the future of e-commerce delivery and addressing the core challenges in our world-class operations space! Key job responsibilities 1. Advanced Modeling and Algorithm Development: - Design and implement sophisticated machine learning models for logistics optimization - Develop complex time series forecasting algorithms for demand prediction and resource allocation 2. AI and Machine Learning Integration: - Architect and deploy AI-powered systems to enhance decision-making in logistics operations - Implement deep learning techniques for image recognition in package sorting and handling - Develop reinforcement learning algorithms for adaptive scheduling and resource management 3. Big Data Analytics and Processing: - Design and implement distributed computing solutions for processing massive logistics datasets - Utilize cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS) for scalable data processing and analysis 4. AI-Driven Workflow Optimization: - Design and implement AI agents for autonomous decision-making in logistics processes - Create machine learning models for customer behavior analysis and personalized delivery options 5. Software Development and System Architecture: - Write efficient, scalable code in languages such as Python, Java, or C++ - Develop and maintain complex software systems for logistics optimization - Stay at the forefront of AI and ML research - Publish research findings in top-tier conferences and journals About the team We are Amazon's Last Mile Science and Analytics team, dedicated to improving e-commerce delivery. We work to optimize our vast network, forecast demand using machine learning, and enhance route efficiency. Our efforts focus on developing innovative delivery methods, applying AI to solve complex problems, and conducting geospatial analysis. We create simulations to refine processes and plan capacity effectively. Operating globally, we strive to develop adaptable solutions for diverse markets. We aim to advance logistics science, continually improving speed, efficiency, and customer satisfaction, in support of Amazon's mission to be Earth's most customer-centric company.
US, WA, Seattle
The Sponsored Products and Brands team at Amazon Ads is re-imagining the advertising landscape through industry leading generative AI technologies, revolutionizing how millions of customers discover products and engage with brands across Amazon.com and beyond. We are at the forefront of re-inventing advertising experiences, bridging human creativity with artificial intelligence to transform every aspect of the advertising lifecycle from ad creation and optimization to performance analysis and customer insights. We are a passionate group of innovators dedicated to developing responsible and intelligent AI technologies that balance the needs of advertisers, enhance the shopping experience, and strengthen the marketplace. If you're energized by solving complex challenges and pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI, join us in shaping the future of advertising. As for Brand Stores (e.g., amazon.com/lego and 1MM+ more), we are the exclusive destination for brand owners to showcase their content and product catalog through custom creative, seamlessly integrated with Amazon Stores and ads products, attracting millions of daily visits. We're reinventing how brands and shoppers connect. Using generative AI, we're building the next generation of brand-centric storefronts, reimagining store creation, optimization, performance analysis, and customer insights through state-of-the-art GenAI technologies. As a Senior Applied Scientist on the team, you'll own the science strategy and hands-on development of AI-powered brand experiences at Amazon scale. You'll operate at the intersection of frontier research and high-impact production systems, with the autonomy to shape what we build, how we build it, and where we invest next. This role combines science leadership, technical depth, product intuition, and business acumen. #GenAI Key job responsibilities If you're energized by solving complex challenges and pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI, this is the role. * Build intelligent systems for Brand Stores. Develop AI-powered solutions leveraging generative models to optimize both advertiser and shopper experiences, measurably improving Brand Store performance. * Define a multi-year science vision and roadmap. Translate customer needs into actionable plans for applied scientists and engineering teams, blending science leadership, technical depth, product intuition, and business acumen. * Architect ahead of the GenAI curve. Anticipate where generative AI is heading over a multi-year horizon and position solutions to capitalize on compounding advances. * Experiment rigorously. Design and run A/B experiments grounded in deep data analysis to validate hypotheses and quantify impact. * Communicate with clarity. Translate complex technical ideas into compelling narratives for both technical and non-technical audiences. About the team The Sponsored Products and Brands team at Amazon Ads is re-imagining the advertising landscape through industry leading generative AI technologies, revolutionizing how millions of customers discover products and engage with brands across Amazon.com and beyond. We are at the forefront of re-inventing advertising experiences, bridging human creativity with artificial intelligence to transform every aspect of the advertising lifecycle from ad creation and optimization to performance analysis and customer insights. We are a passionate group of innovators dedicated to developing responsible and intelligent AI technologies that balance the needs of advertisers, enhance the shopping experience, and strengthen the marketplace. If you're energized by solving complex challenges and pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI, join us in shaping the future of advertising. The Brand Stores team within Sponsored Products and Brands is chartered to create agentic brand store building experience, automating brand store creation, personalization, and optimization across global marketplaces, serving millions of brand owners world-wide.
DE, BE, Berlin
As an Applied Scientist II in the Alexa Conversational Modelling Intelligence team within Alexa AI, you will drive model post-training for Large Language Models that power Alexa+. You'll adopt and adapt state-of-the-art techniques — including supervised fine-tuning, RLHF, and preference optimization — running rigorous experiments and translating findings into production-ready solutions that directly improve the customer experience for millions of users worldwide. You will own the full model development cycle from data curation through training, evaluation, and deployment. Your day-to-day will involve developing evaluation methods and metrics, diagnosing model defects, and iterating on recipes to move concrete quality and efficiency benchmarks. You'll write clean, reproducible code, contribute to shared tooling, and collaborate closely with scientists and engineers to bring models from experimentation to scale. You are technically curious, experiment-driven, and motivated by real customer impact. You will also advance the state of the art by publishing at top-tier NLP/ML conferences (ACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR) — contributing to the broader research community while grounding your work in measurable outcomes. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist II in the Alexa Conversational Modelling Intelligence team, you will own the end-to-end model development lifecycle for LLMs that power Alexa+. You'll design and execute training recipes — including supervised fine-tuning, reinforcement learning from human feedback, and preference optimization — iterating rapidly on data, hyperparameters, and architectures to move quality and efficiency metrics. Your work will directly shape how millions of customers interact with Alexa daily. You will build robust evaluation frameworks to measure model performance, diagnose failure modes, and quantify improvements. This includes developing benchmarks, implementing LLM-as-a-judge pipelines, and conducting rigorous defect analysis to identify where models fall short and why. You'll translate these insights into targeted improvements that close gaps in conversational quality, safety, and fluency. You will collaborate closely with research scientists and engineers to bring models from experimentation to production at scale. You'll contribute to shared tooling and infrastructure, write clean and reproducible code, and document your methods so the team can build on your work. You are also expected to advance the state of the art by publishing findings at top-tier NLP/ML venues (ACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR), ensuring your research drives both customer impact and scientific contribution. A day in the life As an Applied Scientist II, your day will involve launching and monitoring training runs, analyzing experiment results, and iterating on model recipes based on evaluation data. You'll participate in science reviews with fellow researchers, sync with engineering partners on deployment readiness, and deep-dive into model outputs to understand behavioral patterns. You'll balance hands-on experimentation with collaborative problem-solving — working across the Alexa AI organization to align model improvements with customer-facing goals and product priorities. About the team The Alexa Conversational Modelling Intelligence team builds industry-leading LLM-based conversational technologies that customers love. Our mission is to push the envelope in LLMs for Alexa to deliver the best-possible customer experience. As an Applied Scientist, you'll contribute directly to that mission through model development and experimentation.
US, CA, Sunnyvale
MULTIPLE POSITIONS AVAILABLE Employer: AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC Offered Position: Manager III, Economist Job Location: Sunnyvale, California Job Number: AMZ9803624 Position Responsibilities: Independently manage a team of economists and/or scientists in developing strategic economic analyses and demand estimation models. Translate business questions into econometric methodologies and causal inference analyses. Communicate economic insights to non-technical audiences to guide strategic-level, high-impact business decisions. Scale economic models through cross-functional collaboration with engineering teams. Establish scientific quality standards and research priorities. Drive operational efficiency and research excellence across the team. 40 hours / week, 8:00am-5:00pm, Salary Range: $201,300/year to $272,400/year. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered, equity, sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. For more information, visit: https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits. Amazon.com is an Equal Opportunity-Affirmative Action Employer – Minority / Female / Disability / Veteran / Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation.#0000
US, WA, Seattle
Ever wish you could use your quantitative and critical thinking skills to influence business decisions? Economists at Amazon partner closely with senior management, business stakeholders, scientist and engineers, and economist leadership to solve key business problems. As part of the Content Discovery and Experimentation Science team within Prime Video, you will leverage your expertise in causal inference and experimental design to make Prime Video the best-in-class digital video experience. Key job responsibilities - Build causal models and metrics that capture trade-off decisions when business and customer outcomes do not align - Partner with data scientists and product managers to integrate these metrics into Prime Video's experimentation tooling - Work with finance partners to ensure that the team's product metrics contribute to Prime Video's strategic business and financial objectives - Contribute to technical and business documents to communicate ideas and proposals to various audiences - Educate and advocate for best practices in experimentation and how to use it for decision-making