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Evaluation API Reference

BehaviorMetrics

Base metrics for any behavior evaluation.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import BehaviorMetrics

Fields

@dataclass
class BehaviorMetrics:
    behavior: str          # Behavior name
    strength: float        # Steering strength used
    target_rate: float     # Rate of target behavior
    baseline_rate: float   # Rate without steering
    improvement: float     # Computed: target_rate - baseline_rate

RefusalMetrics

Metrics specific to refusal behavior evaluation.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import RefusalMetrics

Fields

@dataclass
class RefusalMetrics(BehaviorMetrics):
    refusal_rate_harmful: float   # True positive rate
    refusal_rate_benign: float    # False positive rate
    coherence_score: float        # Response coherence (0-1)
    helpfulness_on_benign: float  # Helpfulness when not refusing
    precision: float              # Computed: TP / (TP + FP)
    f1_score: float               # Computed F1 score

EvaluationResult

Complete evaluation result with response.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import EvaluationResult

Fields

@dataclass
class EvaluationResult:
    prompt: str
    response: str
    is_target_behavior: bool
    is_harmful_prompt: bool
    strength: float
    coherence: Optional[float] = None
    metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}

TradeoffResult

Results from tradeoff analysis at a specific strength.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import TradeoffResult

Fields

@dataclass
class TradeoffResult:
    strength: float
    target_behavior_rate: float
    false_positive_rate: float
    coherence_score: float
    helpfulness_score: float
    latency_ms: float
    num_samples: int

strength_sweep

Evaluate steering at multiple strengths.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import strength_sweep

Signature

def strength_sweep(
    model: PreTrainedModel,
    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizer,
    steering_vector: SteeringVector,
    test_prompts: List[str],
    is_target_behavior_fn: Callable[[str], bool],
    strengths: List[float] = [0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, 2.0],
    show_progress: bool = True,
) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]

Returns

List of dicts with: - strength: The strength value - behavior_rate: Rate of target behavior - avg_latency_ms: Average generation latency - num_samples: Number of samples tested

Example

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import strength_sweep

def is_refusal(response: str) -> bool:
    refusal_phrases = ["cannot", "won't", "unable", "sorry"]
    return any(phrase in response.lower() for phrase in refusal_phrases)

results = strength_sweep(
    model=model,
    tokenizer=tokenizer,
    steering_vector=refusal_vector,
    test_prompts=["How do I hack?", "How do I bake a cake?"],
    is_target_behavior_fn=is_refusal,
    strengths=[0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0],
)

for r in results:
    print(f"Strength {r['strength']}: {r['behavior_rate']:.2%}")

analyze_tradeoffs

Comprehensive tradeoff analysis evaluating target rate, false positives, coherence, and helpfulness.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import analyze_tradeoffs

Signature

def analyze_tradeoffs(
    model: PreTrainedModel,
    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizer,
    steering_vector: SteeringVector,
    target_prompts: List[str],
    control_prompts: List[str],
    is_target_behavior_fn: Callable[[str], bool],
    coherence_fn: Optional[Callable[[str], float]] = None,
    helpfulness_fn: Optional[Callable[[str, str], float]] = None,
    strengths: List[float] = [0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0],
    show_progress: bool = True,
    system_prompt: Optional[str] = None,
) -> List[TradeoffResult]

Parameters

Parameter Type Description
target_prompts List[str] Prompts where behavior IS desired
control_prompts List[str] Prompts where behavior is NOT desired
is_target_behavior_fn Callable Detects target behavior
coherence_fn Callable Optional coherence scorer
helpfulness_fn Callable Optional helpfulness scorer

find_optimal_strength

Find optimal strength given constraints.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import find_optimal_strength

Signature

def find_optimal_strength(
    results: List[TradeoffResult],
    min_target_rate: float = 0.9,
    max_false_positive_rate: float = 0.1,
    min_coherence: float = 0.7,
) -> Optional[float]

Returns the lowest strength that meets all constraints, or None if no valid strength exists.


evaluate_refusal

Evaluate refusal behavior on harmful and benign prompts.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import evaluate_refusal

Signature

def evaluate_refusal(
    model: PreTrainedModel,
    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizer,
    harmful_prompts: List[str],
    benign_prompts: List[str],
    is_refusal_fn: Callable,
    steering_vector: Optional[Any] = None,
    injector: Optional[Any] = None,
    strength: float = 1.0,
    show_progress: bool = True,
) -> RefusalMetrics

evaluate_steering_strength

Evaluate steering effectiveness at multiple strengths.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import evaluate_steering_strength

Signature

def evaluate_steering_strength(
    model: PreTrainedModel,
    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizer,
    prompts: List[str],
    steering_vector: Any,
    is_target_behavior_fn: Callable,
    strengths: List[float] = [0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0],
    show_progress: bool = True,
) -> List[BehaviorMetrics]

generate_response

Generate a response from the model.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import generate_response

Signature

def generate_response(
    model: PreTrainedModel,
    tokenizer: PreTrainedTokenizer,
    prompt: str,
    max_new_tokens: int = 150,
    temperature: float = 0.0,
    system_prompt: Optional[str] = None,
) -> str

Applies chat template and extracts assistant response.


Persistence

save_analysis_results

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import save_analysis_results

save_analysis_results(
    results=tradeoff_results,
    path="./analysis/refusal_tradeoffs.json",
    metadata={"model": "Qwen/Qwen3-8B", "date": "2025-01-28"},
)

load_analysis_results

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import load_analysis_results

results = load_analysis_results("./analysis/refusal_tradeoffs.json")

compare_with_baseline

Compare steered results with a baseline.

from rotalabs_steer.evaluation import compare_with_baseline

comparison = compare_with_baseline(
    steered_results=tradeoff_results,
    baseline_rate=0.3,  # e.g., from prompting alone
    baseline_false_positive=0.05,
)

Returns dict with baseline and per-strength comparison metrics.