{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7134830223","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445","title":"Few Tokens, Big Leverage: Preserving Safety Alignment by Constraining Safety Tokens during Fine-tuning","display_name":"Few Tokens, Big Leverage: Preserving Safety Alignment by Constraining Safety Tokens during Fine-tuning","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-03-08","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7134830223","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"pmh:doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":null,"pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4406922384","display_name":"Open MIND","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"publisher-specific-oa","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/publisher-specific-oa","version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Article"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128639157","display_name":"Guoli Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Wang, Guoli","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128663626","display_name":"Haonan Shi","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Shi, Haonan","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5057653595","display_name":"Tu Ouyang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5432-5391"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Ouyang, Tu","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128641674","display_name":"An Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wang, An","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5128639157"],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.8324999809265137,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.8324999809265137,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.024000000208616257,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13295","display_name":"Safety Systems Engineering in Autonomy","score":0.020999999716877937,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/2213","display_name":"Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/22","display_name":"Engineering"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/generality","display_name":"Generality","score":0.8514000177383423},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/task","display_name":"Task (project management)","score":0.7434999942779541},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/downstream","display_name":"Downstream (manufacturing)","score":0.673799991607666},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/constraint","display_name":"Constraint (computer-aided design)","score":0.6539000272750854},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/limit","display_name":"Limit (mathematics)","score":0.4142000079154968},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/component","display_name":"Component (thermodynamics)","score":0.38510000705718994},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/baseline","display_name":"Baseline (sea)","score":0.3684999942779541}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780767217","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5532421","display_name":"Generality","level":2,"score":0.8514000177383423},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7660999894142151},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780451532","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q759676","display_name":"Task (project management)","level":2,"score":0.7434999942779541},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776207758","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5303302","display_name":"Downstream (manufacturing)","level":2,"score":0.673799991607666},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776036281","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q48769818","display_name":"Constraint (computer-aided design)","level":2,"score":0.6539000272750854},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C151201525","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q177239","display_name":"Limit (mathematics)","level":2,"score":0.4142000079154968},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C168167062","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1117970","display_name":"Component (thermodynamics)","level":2,"score":0.38510000705718994},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C12725497","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q810247","display_name":"Baseline (sea)","level":2,"score":0.3684999942779541},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C18762648","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42213","display_name":"Work (physics)","level":2,"score":0.3531999886035919},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C124101348","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172491","display_name":"Data mining","level":1,"score":0.3382999897003174},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.3325999975204468},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C149629883","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q660926","display_name":"Fraction (chemistry)","level":2,"score":0.3231000006198883},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137293760","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3621696","display_name":"Language model","level":2,"score":0.289000004529953},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C46355384","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q726686","display_name":"Compromise","level":2,"score":0.28279998898506165},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204323151","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q905424","display_name":"Range (aeronautics)","level":2,"score":0.2824000120162964},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.2703000009059906},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C51632099","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3985153","display_name":"Training set","level":2,"score":0.26750001311302185},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2775907273","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7805281","display_name":"Time constraint","level":2,"score":0.26660001277923584},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C175154964","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q380077","display_name":"Task analysis","level":3,"score":0.2578999996185303}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"pmh:doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":null,"pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4406922384","display_name":"Open MIND","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"publisher-specific-oa","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/publisher-specific-oa","version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Article"},{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"pmh:doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.07445","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":null,"pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4406922384","display_name":"Open MIND","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"publisher-specific-oa","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/publisher-specific-oa","version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Large":[0],"language":[1],"models":[2],"(LLMs)":[3],"often":[4,56,128],"require":[5],"fine-tuning":[6,89],"(FT)":[7],"to":[8,48,145,165],"perform":[9],"well":[10],"on":[11,58,104,130,152],"downstream":[12,79,138],"tasks,":[13],"but":[14],"FT":[15],"can":[16,40,74],"induce":[17],"safety-alignment":[18],"drift":[19,175],"even":[20],"when":[21],"the":[22,101,112,121,142,147],"training":[23],"dataset":[24],"contains":[25],"only":[26],"benign":[27],"data.":[28],"Prior":[29],"work":[30],"shows":[31],"that":[32,115,180],"introducing":[33],"a":[34,88,131],"small":[35,132],"fraction":[36],"of":[37,134],"harmful":[38,51],"data":[39],"substantially":[41],"compromise":[42],"LLM":[43],"refusal":[44],"behavior,":[45],"causing":[46],"LLMs":[47],"comply":[49],"with":[50,184],"requests.":[52],"Existing":[53],"defense":[54],"methods":[55],"rely":[57],"model-wide":[59],"interventions,":[60],"such":[61],"as":[62],"restricting":[63],"which":[64,73,99],"parameters":[65],"are":[66],"updated":[67],"or":[68],"injecting":[69],"additional":[70],"safety":[71,105],"data,":[72],"limit":[75],"generality":[76],"and":[77,126],"degrade":[78],"task":[80,168],"performance.":[81],"To":[82],"address":[83],"these":[84],"limitations,":[85],"we":[86,140],"propose":[87],"framework":[90],"called":[91],"Preserving":[92],"Safety":[93],"Alignment":[94],"via":[95],"Constrained":[96],"Tokens":[97],"(PACT),":[98],"stabilizes":[100],"model's":[102,122,150],"confidence":[103,125,151],"tokens.":[106,136],"Our":[107],"approach":[108],"is":[109,118,127],"motivated":[110],"by":[111],"empirical":[113],"observation":[114],"safety-aligned":[116],"behavior":[117],"reflected":[119],"in":[120],"token-level":[123],"output":[124],"concentrated":[129],"subset":[133],"safety-related":[135,153],"During":[137],"fine-tuning,":[139],"regularize":[141],"fine-tuned":[143],"model":[144,185],"match":[146],"aligned":[148],"reference":[149],"tokens":[154,162],"at":[155],"each":[156],"response":[157],"step,":[158],"while":[159],"leaving":[160],"non-safety":[161],"largely":[163],"unconstrained":[164],"allow":[166],"effective":[167],"adaptation.":[169],"This":[170],"targeted":[171],"constraint":[172],"prevents":[173],"alignment":[174],"without":[176],"imposing":[177],"global":[178],"restrictions":[179],"typically":[181],"trade":[182],"off":[183],"utility.":[186]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-04-04T16:13:02.066488","created_date":"2026-03-11T00:00:00"}
