Abstract
Continued pretraining enables language models to adapt to new domains and knowledge, but often at the cost of forgetting previously acquired capabilities. Replay can mitigate this trade-off, but fixed replay mixtures allocate training independently of the model's actual retention needs. We introduce Replay on Demand (RoD), which instead derives the replay allocation from the model's learning dynamics. RoD jointly prioritizes adaptation samples by their remaining learning potential and replay samples by their observed forgetting. Their competition for a shared training budget yields an online curriculum that determines what to train on at each step. Across models, scales, and adaptation domains, RoD reaches or improves upon the adaptation-forgetting frontier of tuned fixed-replay baselines and model merging without prescribing a replay allocation in advance. Replay concentrates on sources that are more vulnerable to forgetting and dynamically increases and redistributes as forgetting emerges during training. Together, our results show that replay can be allocated online from the model's evolving state, targeting what is needed, when it is needed.
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Cite this article
APA 7
Thede, L., Chen, S., Winzeck, S., Bethge, M., Akata, Z., & Schwarz, J. R. (2026). Replay on Demand: An Emergent Curriculum for Balancing Adaptation and Forgetting in Continued Pretraining. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/replay-on-demand-an-emergent-curriculum-for-balancing-adaptation-and-forgetting-in-continued-pretraining
MLA 9
Thede, Lukas, et al. "Replay on Demand: An Emergent Curriculum for Balancing Adaptation and Forgetting in Continued Pretraining." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/replay-on-demand-an-emergent-curriculum-for-balancing-adaptation-and-forgetting-in-continued-pretraining.
Chicago (author–date)
Thede, Lukas, Shengzhuang Chen, Stefan Winzeck, Matthias Bethge, Zeynep Akata, and Jonathan Richard Schwarz. 2026. "Replay on Demand: An Emergent Curriculum for Balancing Adaptation and Forgetting in Continued Pretraining." https://omanscience.com/en/articles/replay-on-demand-an-emergent-curriculum-for-balancing-adaptation-and-forgetting-in-continued-pretraining.
Harvard
Thede, L., Chen, S., Winzeck, S., Bethge, M., Akata, Z. and Schwarz, J. R. (2026) 'Replay on Demand: An Emergent Curriculum for Balancing Adaptation and Forgetting in Continued Pretraining', Available at: https://omanscience.com/en/articles/replay-on-demand-an-emergent-curriculum-for-balancing-adaptation-and-forgetting-in-continued-pretraining.
Vancouver
Thede L, Chen S, Winzeck S, Bethge M, Akata Z, Schwarz JR. Replay on Demand: An Emergent Curriculum for Balancing Adaptation and Forgetting in Continued Pretraining. https://omanscience.com/en/articles/replay-on-demand-an-emergent-curriculum-for-balancing-adaptation-and-forgetting-in-continued-pretraining
IEEE
L. Thede, S. Chen, S. Winzeck, M. Bethge, Z. Akata, and J. R. Schwarz, "Replay on Demand: An Emergent Curriculum for Balancing Adaptation and Forgetting in Continued Pretraining," https://omanscience.com/en/articles/replay-on-demand-an-emergent-curriculum-for-balancing-adaptation-and-forgetting-in-continued-pretraining.