diff --git a/stdlib/public/Differentiation/Differentiable.swift b/stdlib/public/Differentiation/Differentiable.swift
index 635005d750974..1d67347e8a43e 100644
--- a/stdlib/public/Differentiation/Differentiable.swift
+++ b/stdlib/public/Differentiation/Differentiable.swift
@@ -36,17 +36,39 @@ public protocol Differentiable {
   mutating func move(along direction: TangentVector)
 
   // SWIFT_ENABLE_TENSORFLOW
-  /// A tangent vector such that `move(along: zeroTangentVector)` will not
-  /// modify `self`.
-  /// - Note: `zeroTangentVector` can be `TangentVector.zero` in most cases,
-  ///   but types whose tangent vectors depend on instance properties of `self`
-  ///   need to provide a different implementation. For example, the tangent
-  ///   vector of an `Array` depends on the array's `count`.
-  @available(*, deprecated, message: """
-      `zeroTangentVector` derivation has not been implemented; do not use \
-      this property
-      """)
-  var zeroTangentVector: TangentVector { get }
+  /// A closure that produces a zero tangent vector, capturing minimal
+  /// necessary information from `self`.
+  ///
+  /// `move(along: zeroTangentVectorInitializer())` should not modify
+  /// `self`.
+  ///
+  /// In some cases, the zero tangent vector of `self` is equal to
+  /// `TangentVector.zero`. In other cases, the zero tangent vector depends on
+  /// information in `self`, such as shape for an n-dimensional array type.
+  /// For differentiable programming, it is more memory-efficient to define a
+  /// custom `zeroTangentVectorInitializer` property which returns a closure
+  /// that captures and uses only the necessary information to create a zero
+  /// tangent vector. For example:
+  ///
+  ///     struct Vector {
+  ///         var scalars: [Float]
+  ///         var count: Int { scalars.count }
+  ///         init(scalars: [Float]) { ... }
+  ///         init(repeating repeatedElement: Float, count: Int) { ... }
+  ///     }
+  ///
+  ///     extension Vector: AdditiveArithmetic { ... }
+  ///
+  ///     extension Vector: Differentiable {
+  ///         typealias TangentVector = Vector
+  ///
+  ///         @noDerivative
+  ///         var zeroTangentVectorInitializer: () -> TangentVector {
+  ///             let count = self.count
+  ///             return { TangentVector(repeating: 0, count: count) }
+  ///         }
+  ///     }
+  var zeroTangentVectorInitializer: () -> TangentVector { get }
   // SWIFT_ENABLE_TENSORFLOW END
 }
 
@@ -59,12 +81,23 @@ public extension Differentiable where TangentVector == Self {
 
 // SWIFT_ENABLE_TENSORFLOW
 public extension Differentiable {
-  // This is a temporary solution that allows us to add `zeroTangentVector`
-  // without implementing derived conformances. This property is marked
-  // unavailable because it will produce incorrect results when tangent vectors
-  // depend on instance properties of `self`.
-  // FIXME: Implement derived conformance and remove this default
+  // This is a temporary solution enabling the addition of
+  // `zeroTangentVectorInitializer` without implementing derived conformances.
+  // This property will produce incorrect results when tangent vectors depend
+  // on instance-specific information from `self`.
+  // FIXME: Implement derived conformances and remove this default
   // implementation.
-  var zeroTangentVector: TangentVector { .zero }
+  @available(*, deprecated, message: """
+      `zeroTangentVectorInitializer` derivation has not been implemented; this \
+      default implementation is not correct when tangent vectors depend on \
+      instance-specific information from `self` and should not be used
+      """)
+  var zeroTangentVectorInitializer: () -> TangentVector {
+    { TangentVector.zero }
+  }
+
+  /// A tangent vector initialized using `zeroTangentVectorInitializer`.
+  /// `move(along: zeroTangentVector)` should not modify `self`.
+  var zeroTangentVector: TangentVector { zeroTangentVectorInitializer() }
 }
 // SWIFT_ENABLE_TENSORFLOW END