提出新算法Q♯,让大模型推理更准且更稳定。
$Q\sharp$: Provably Optimal Distributional RL for LLM Post-Training
- 用分布强化学习构建最优价值函数指导模型优化
- 数学推理性能超越基线,同时保持更低的策略偏差
- 理论可证明最优性,适合追求可靠训练的大模型研究者
强化学习后训练对大模型对齐与推理至关重要,但现有基于策略的方法(如PPO、DPO)难以纠正预训练带来的捷径。本文提出Q♯,一种基于值函数的KL正则化强化学习算法,利用最优正则化Q函数引导参考策略。通过在聚合在线数据集上使用分布强化学习学习最优Q函数,相比先前无正则化值函数方法,该方法具有理论依据,可严格求解正则化强化学习最优策略。实验表明,Q♯在数学推理基准上优于基线,同时保持更小的KL散度。理论上,我们建立了从KL正则化强化学习到无遗憾在线学习的归约,首次在仅实现实用性假设下为确定性MDP提供理论界。得益于分布强化学习,边界依赖方差,当参考策略方差小时收敛更快。结果表明,Q♯是一种高效且具理论保障的模型后训练方法。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Reinforcement learning (RL) post-training is crucial for LLM alignment and reasoning, but existing policy-based methods, such as PPO and DPO, can fall short of fixing shortcuts inherited from pre-training. In this work, we introduce $Q\sharp$, a value-based algorithm for KL-regularized RL that guides the reference policy using the optimal regularized $Q$ function. We propose to learn the optimal $Q$ function using distributional RL on an aggregated online dataset. Unlike prior value-based baselines that guide the model using unregularized $Q$-values, our method is theoretically principled and provably learns the optimal policy for the KL-regularized RL problem. Empirically, $Q\sharp$ outperforms prior baselines in math reasoning benchmarks while maintaining a smaller KL divergence to the reference policy. Theoretically, we establish a reduction from KL-regularized RL to no-regret online learning, providing the first bounds for deterministic MDPs under only realizability. Thanks to distributional RL, our bounds are also variance-dependent and converge faster when the reference policy has small variance. In sum, our results highlight $Q\sharp$ as an effective approach for post-training LLMs, offering both improved performance and theoretical guarantees. The code can be found at https://github.com/jinpz/q_sharp.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。