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@manueldeprada manueldeprada commented Sep 18, 2025

#40657 inadvertently changed an implicit algorithmic bias: candidate_generator (the assistant model) was getting logits_processor while the decoding method (main model) was getting prepared_logits_processor. This meant that the assistant was running with T=1 while the main model was using lower temp.

We investigated and its good for speculation to have a hotter assistant model (so it was a good bug that we were not applying the lower temp to the assistant),

image image image

But it should be explicitly set and not a hidden argument forwarding consequence. This PR does that, setting it by default to 1.5.

This PR also fixes:

FAILED tests/generation/test_utils.py::GenerationIntegrationTests::test_generated_length_assisted_generation - ValueError: Passing `MinLengthLogitsProcessor` when using `assisted_generation is disabled. Please pass in `min_length` into `.generate()` instead

which originates from the same change in LogitsProcessor passing.

Comment on lines +180 to +182
self.logits_processor = [
processor for processor in self.logits_processor if not isinstance(processor, MinLengthLogitsProcessor)
]
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Length is controlled by main model's generation loop, so we should just discard those on the assistant right? @gante

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yes 👍

(see comment on L175-176)

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So we essentially remove the thrown error? Not sure if this is really relevant to this PR, more of a shortener no?

Comment on lines 3519 to 3532
# Prefer a slightly higher temperature for the assistant when not explicitly provided
idx = next((i for i, p in enumerate(logits_processor) if isinstance(p, TemperatureLogitsWarper)), None)
temp_processor = logits_processor.pop(idx) if idx is not None else TemperatureLogitsWarper(temperature=1.0)

if assistant_temperature is None and temp_processor is not None and temp_processor.temperature < 1.5:
logger.warning_once(
f"The assistant's sampling temperature comes from main generation loop set to {temp_processor.temperature},"
"but speculative decoding benefits from slightly hotter candidate generation, (see #40976)so we are setting it"
"to 1.5. This should improve decoding speed in most cases. Use `assistant_temperature` to override this value."
)
assistant_temperature = 1.5

if assistant_temperature is not None:
logits_processor.insert(0, TemperatureLogitsWarper(temperature=assistant_temperature))
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1.5 seems the most balanced for now, subject to change if experiments show otherwise, I am still benchmarking more models.

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Comment on lines 2218 to 2222
"assistant_model": assistant_model,
"streamer": streamer,
"assistant_temperature": kwargs.pop("assistant_temperature", None),
}
generation_mode_kwargs["synced_gpus"] = (
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no need to change generate signature!! it gets automatically forwarded.

In fact, we could remove assistant_model from the signature (👀 v5?) and all the decoding method-specific kwargs get automatically forwarded.

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no signature change, but it's still an argument (that should be documented)

In any case, I'd rather have it being controlled by assistant_model.generation_config.temperature, in AssistedCandidateGenerator.__init__ -- if it's the default value (1.0), or == main model temperature, then override.

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+1, it should lie within the assistant's generation config if possible. That would be cleaner

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A big question below 👀

Comment on lines +180 to +182
self.logits_processor = [
processor for processor in self.logits_processor if not isinstance(processor, MinLengthLogitsProcessor)
]
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yes 👍

(see comment on L175-176)

Comment on lines +3519 to +3532
# Prefer a slightly higher temperature for the assistant when not explicitly provided
idx = next((i for i, p in enumerate(logits_processor) if isinstance(p, TemperatureLogitsWarper)), None)
temp_processor = logits_processor.pop(idx) if idx is not None else TemperatureLogitsWarper(temperature=1.0)

if assistant_temperature is None and temp_processor is not None and temp_processor.temperature < 1.5:
logger.warning_once(
f"The assistant's sampling temperature comes from main generation loop set to {temp_processor.temperature}, "
"but speculative decoding benefits from slightly hotter candidate generation, (see #40976) so we are setting it "
"to 1.5. This should improve decoding speed in most cases. Use `assistant_temperature` to override this value."
)
assistant_temperature = 1.5

if assistant_temperature is not None:
logits_processor.insert(0, TemperatureLogitsWarper(temperature=assistant_temperature))
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doesn't this change the temperature for both models? 👀 (logits_processor also used in step 2.3)

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Yea that's a good question, we only up the base temperature no? We could also just modify the temperature in place if that's the case

Comment on lines 2218 to 2222
"assistant_model": assistant_model,
"streamer": streamer,
"assistant_temperature": kwargs.pop("assistant_temperature", None),
}
generation_mode_kwargs["synced_gpus"] = (
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no signature change, but it's still an argument (that should be documented)

In any case, I'd rather have it being controlled by assistant_model.generation_config.temperature, in AssistedCandidateGenerator.__init__ -- if it's the default value (1.0), or == main model temperature, then override.

@vasqu vasqu self-requested a review November 14, 2025 16:00
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I'm a bit confused whether the assistant and main model really use different logits processors as they use the prepared_logits_processor and whether we could just modify in place then if that's the case. I.e. the main model in general benefits from a higher temperature.

Generally aligned with getting better defaults tho. Just a bit confused if what happens is really what happens per the current comments.

Comment on lines +180 to +182
self.logits_processor = [
processor for processor in self.logits_processor if not isinstance(processor, MinLengthLogitsProcessor)
]
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So we essentially remove the thrown error? Not sure if this is really relevant to this PR, more of a shortener no?

Comment on lines 2218 to 2222
"assistant_model": assistant_model,
"streamer": streamer,
"assistant_temperature": kwargs.pop("assistant_temperature", None),
}
generation_mode_kwargs["synced_gpus"] = (
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+1, it should lie within the assistant's generation config if possible. That would be cleaner

Comment on lines +3519 to +3532
# Prefer a slightly higher temperature for the assistant when not explicitly provided
idx = next((i for i, p in enumerate(logits_processor) if isinstance(p, TemperatureLogitsWarper)), None)
temp_processor = logits_processor.pop(idx) if idx is not None else TemperatureLogitsWarper(temperature=1.0)

if assistant_temperature is None and temp_processor is not None and temp_processor.temperature < 1.5:
logger.warning_once(
f"The assistant's sampling temperature comes from main generation loop set to {temp_processor.temperature}, "
"but speculative decoding benefits from slightly hotter candidate generation, (see #40976) so we are setting it "
"to 1.5. This should improve decoding speed in most cases. Use `assistant_temperature` to override this value."
)
assistant_temperature = 1.5

if assistant_temperature is not None:
logits_processor.insert(0, TemperatureLogitsWarper(temperature=assistant_temperature))
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Yea that's a good question, we only up the base temperature no? We could also just modify the temperature in place if that's the case

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4 participants