Memorizing is Not Enough: Deep Knowledge Injection Through Reasoning

Ruoxi Xu, Yunjie Ji, Boxi Cao, Yaojie Lu, Hongyu Lin, Xianpei Han, Ben He, Yingfei Sun, Xiangang Li, Le Sun


Abstract
Although large language models (LLMs) excel in knowledge recall and reasoning, their static nature leads to outdated information as the real world evolves or when adapting to domain-specific knowledge, highlighting the need for effective knowledge injection. However, current research on knowledge injection remains superficial, mainly focusing on knowledge memorization and retrieval. This paper proposes a four-tier knowledge injection framework that systematically defines the levels of knowledge injection: memorization, retrieval, reasoning, and association. Based on this framework, we introduce DeepKnowledge, a synthetic experimental testbed designed for fine-grained evaluation of the depth of knowledge injection across three knowledge types (novel, incremental, and updated). We then explore various knowledge injection scenarios and evaluate the depth of knowledge injection for each scenario on the benchmark. Experimental results reveal key factors to reach each level of knowledge injection for LLMs and establish a mapping between the levels of knowledge injection and the corresponding suitable injection methods, aiming to provide a comprehensive approach for efficient knowledge injection across various levels. The code is available at [https://github.com/icip-cas/Knowledge-Learning-Toolkits](https://github.com/icip-cas/Knowledge-Learning-Toolkits).
Anthology ID:
2025.acl-long.1392
Volume:
Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers)
Month:
July
Year:
2025
Address:
Vienna, Austria
Editors:
Wanxiang Che, Joyce Nabende, Ekaterina Shutova, Mohammad Taher Pilehvar
Venue:
ACL
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
28682–28693
Language:
URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/ingestion-acl-25/2025.acl-long.1392/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Ruoxi Xu, Yunjie Ji, Boxi Cao, Yaojie Lu, Hongyu Lin, Xianpei Han, Ben He, Yingfei Sun, Xiangang Li, and Le Sun. 2025. Memorizing is Not Enough: Deep Knowledge Injection Through Reasoning. In Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers), pages 28682–28693, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Memorizing is Not Enough: Deep Knowledge Injection Through Reasoning (Xu et al., ACL 2025)
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PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/ingestion-acl-25/2025.acl-long.1392.pdf