Abstract
Text embedding models trained with contrastive learning learn to follow task instructions from instruction-paired data, while instruction-tuned LLMs already know how to follow them. We show that this instruction-following ability can carry over from an LLM to a Transformer-based embedder without any training. We propose Attention Relay, which passes the attention weights an LLM produces to the embedder's own attention. Across six instruction-tuned LLMs from the Qwen3, Llama 3.1 and OLMo 3 families and ten widely used embedding models that differ in tokenizer, size and pooling type, Attention Relay makes nearly every combination instruction-aware. Experiments that break the method down into its parts show that the LLM's attention weights track the instruction in its later layers and come largely from instruction tuning. They also show that relaying these weights selects which content in the text matters: it makes the aspect of the text that the instruction asks about dominant in the embedding, or restores that aspect where averaging had diluted it.
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Publication details
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- Open access
- Green open access
Cite this article
APA 7
Luo, Y., & Chatziafratis, V. (2026). Lend Me Your Eyes: Instruction-Aware Text Embeddings via Attention Relay. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/lend-me-your-eyes-instruction-aware-text-embeddings-via-attention-relay
MLA 9
Luo, Yiyuan, and Vaggos Chatziafratis. "Lend Me Your Eyes: Instruction-Aware Text Embeddings via Attention Relay." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/lend-me-your-eyes-instruction-aware-text-embeddings-via-attention-relay.
Chicago (author–date)
Luo, Yiyuan, and Vaggos Chatziafratis. 2026. "Lend Me Your Eyes: Instruction-Aware Text Embeddings via Attention Relay." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/lend-me-your-eyes-instruction-aware-text-embeddings-via-attention-relay.
Harvard
Luo, Y. and Chatziafratis, V. (2026) 'Lend Me Your Eyes: Instruction-Aware Text Embeddings via Attention Relay', Available at: https://omanscience.com/en/articles/lend-me-your-eyes-instruction-aware-text-embeddings-via-attention-relay.
Vancouver
Luo Y, Chatziafratis V. Lend Me Your Eyes: Instruction-Aware Text Embeddings via Attention Relay. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/lend-me-your-eyes-instruction-aware-text-embeddings-via-attention-relay
IEEE
Y. Luo, and V. Chatziafratis, "Lend Me Your Eyes: Instruction-Aware Text Embeddings via Attention Relay," https://omanscience.com/en/articles/lend-me-your-eyes-instruction-aware-text-embeddings-via-attention-relay.