The assistant axis

This post introduces the concept of the 'Assistant Axis,' a principal component in the model's 'persona space' that represents the degree of 'Assistant-likeness.' It details experiments showing that this axis is present even in pre-trained models and causally influences model behavior. The post also describes 'activation capping' as a technique to stabilize model behavior by constraining activations along the Assistant Axis, thereby reducing harmful outputs and jailbreak susceptibility while preserving general capabilities. The research demonstrates that persona drift, particularly in therapy-like or philosophical contexts, can lead to undesirable behavior, which can be mitigated by activation capping.