Stabilizing Reinforcement Learning with LLMs: Formulation and Practices
PositiveArtificial Intelligence
- A new formulation for reinforcement learning (RL) with large language models (LLMs) has been proposed, emphasizing the optimization of true sequence-level rewards through a surrogate token-level objective in policy gradient methods like REINFORCE. The study highlights the importance of minimizing training-inference discrepancies and policy staleness to enhance the validity of this surrogate, supported by extensive experiments with a 30B Mixture-of-Experts model.
- This development is significant as it provides a principled explanation for various techniques that stabilize RL training, such as importance sampling correction and Routing Replay, which can lead to improved performance in on-policy training scenarios. The findings suggest that these methods are crucial for achieving optimal training outcomes in complex RL environments.
- The research aligns with ongoing advancements in RL and LLMs, addressing challenges such as stability and efficiency in training. Innovations like staggered environment resets and reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards are also being explored, indicating a broader trend towards enhancing the safety and capability of AI systems while optimizing their performance in diverse applications.
— via World Pulse Now AI Editorial System
