Steering just 100 of Qwen3-8B's 440k neurons matches persona vector effect

maxsloef · x · 2026-11-01

Research by wmayner shows persona vector steering is sparse in the neuron basis: adjusting just 100 of Qwen3-8B's 440k neurons has the same effect as a persona vector, while steering top directions of a randomly rotated or PC basis fails — suggesting the neuron basis is privileged. maxsloef adds the neurons even outperform the persona vector's PCs.

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