Cloud-Device Collaborative Learning for Multimodal Large Language Models

The burgeoning field of Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) has exhibited remarkable performance in diverse tasks such as captioning, commonsense reasoning, and visual scene understanding. However, the deployment of these large-scale MLLMs on client devices is hindered by their extensive model parameters, leading to a notable decline in generalization capabilities when these models are compressed for device deployment. Addressing this challenge, we introduce a Cloud-Device Collaborative Continual Adaptation framework, designed to enhance the performance of compressed, device-deployed MLLMs by leveraging the robust capabilities of cloud-based, larger-scale MLLMs. Our framework is structured into three key components: a device-to-cloud uplink for efficient data transmission, cloud-based knowledge adaptation, and an optimized cloud-to-device downlink for model deployment. In the uplink phase, we employ an Uncertainty-guided Token Sampling (UTS) strategy to effectively filter out-of-distribution tokens, thereby reducing transmission costs and improving training efficiency. On the cloud side, we propose Adapter-based Knowledge Distillation (AKD) method to transfer refined knowledge from large-scale to compressed, pocket-size MLLMs. Furthermore, we propose a Dynamic Weight update Compression (DWC) strategy for the downlink, which adaptively selects and quantizes updated weight parameters, enhancing transmission efficiency and reducing the representational disparity between cloud and device models. Extensive experiments on several multimodal benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of our proposed framework over prior Knowledge Distillation and device-cloud collaboration methods. Notably, we also validate the feasibility of our approach to real-world experiments.

COLE: A Hierarchical Generation Framework for Graphic Design

Graphic design, which has been evolving since the 15th century, plays a crucial role in advertising. The creation of high-quality designs demands creativity, innovation, and lateral thinking. This intricate task involves understanding the objective, crafting visual elements such as the background, decoration, font, color, and shape, formulating diverse professional layouts, and adhering to fundamental visual design principles. In this paper, we introduce COLE, a hierarchical generation framework designed to comprehensively address these challenges. This COLE system can transform a straightforward intention prompt into a high-quality graphic design, while also supporting flexible editing based on user input. Examples of such input might include directives like ``design a poster for Hisaishi's concert.'' The key insight is to dissect the complex task of text-to-design generation into a hierarchy of simpler sub-tasks, each addressed by specialized models working collaboratively. The results from these models are then consolidated to produce a cohesive final output. Our hierarchical task decomposition can streamline the complex process and significantly enhance generation reliability. Our COLE system consists of multiple fine-tuned Large Language Models (LLMs), Large Multimodal Models (LMMs), and Diffusion Models (DMs), each specifically tailored for a design-aware text or image generation task. Furthermore, we construct the DESIGNERINTENTION benchmark to highlight the superiority of our COLE over existing methods in generating high-quality graphic designs from user intent. We perceive our COLE as an important step towards addressing more complex visual design generation tasks in the future.