Top-p
Expanded definition
Instead of always taking the argmax or sampling the full vocabulary, top-p truncates the tail of the distribution. p=0.9 is a common starting point. Combined with temperature, it controls diversity. For JSON, tools, and classification, greedy or very low-p sampling is usually safer. Always record temperature, top-p, and top-k together in eval logs because they interact.
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Top-p FAQ
What is Top-p?
Top-p, or nucleus sampling, draws the next token from the smallest set of tokens whose cumulative probability exceeds p.
How is Top-p used in AI systems?
Instead of always taking the argmax or sampling the full vocabulary, top-p truncates the tail of the distribution. p=0.9 is a common starting point. Combined with temperature, it controls diversity. For JSON, tools, and classification, greedy or very low-p sampling is usually safer. Always record temperature, top-p, and top-k together in eval logs because they interact.
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