DeepOffer

Define catastrophic forgetting and describe how to mitigate it during fine-tuning.

ML TheoryReported interview question
Reported in public interview compilations — Mistral AI

Catastrophic forgetting occurs when fine-tuning overwrites capabilities learned earlier. Mix replay data, lower the learning rate, regularize toward the base weights, freeze layers or use adapters, and evaluate both target and retained capabilities.

Use equations or tensor shapes where they clarify the claim, then name an experiment or ablation that would distinguish competing explanations.

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