arXiv:2505.18126cs.LGcs.AI2025-05被引 7

研究迭代RLHF中奖励模型过优化问题,发现多次迭代可缓解过拟合。

Reward Model Overoptimisation in Iterated RLHF

  • 通过控制实验分析迭代过程中的数据传递、奖励函数和策略初始化策略。
  • 随着迭代次数增加,过优化现象减弱,但性能提升逐渐放缓。
  • 从基础模型重新初始化最稳健,但限制优化灵活性,适合追求稳定的场景。

基于人类反馈的强化学习(RLHF)是对齐大语言模型与人类偏好的一种常用方法。然而,RLHF常面临奖励模型过优化问题,即模型过度拟合奖励函数,导致非泛化策略并利用奖励函数的特异性。一种常见缓解方法是迭代RLHF,即用更新的人类反馈反复重训练奖励模型,并重新优化策略。尽管该方法日益普及,其在迭代设置下的过优化动态仍不明确。本文首次系统研究了迭代RLHF中的过优化现象。通过使用受控的AlpacaFarm基准,我们发现过优化在后续迭代中通常会减弱,因为奖励模型更接近真实偏好。然而,性能增益随时间递减;从基础策略重新初始化虽具鲁棒性,但限制了优化灵活性;其他初始化策略往往无法克服早期过优化。这些发现为构建更稳定、泛化能力更强的RLHF流程提供了可操作的洞见。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) is a widely used method for aligning large language models with human preferences. However, RLHF often suffers from reward model overoptimisation, in which models overfit to the reward function, resulting in non-generalisable policies that exploit the idiosyncrasies and peculiarities of the reward function. A common mitigation is iterated RLHF, in which reward models are repeatedly retrained with updated human feedback and policies are re-optimised. Despite its increasing adoption, the dynamics of overoptimisation in this setting remain poorly understood. In this work, we present the first comprehensive study of overoptimisation in iterated RLHF. We systematically analyse key design choices - how reward model training data is transferred across iterations, which reward function is used for optimisation, and how policies are initialised. Using the controlled AlpacaFarm benchmark, we observe that overoptimisation tends to decrease over successive iterations, as reward models increasingly approximate ground-truth preferences. However, performance gains diminish over time, and while reinitialising from the base policy is robust, it limits optimisation flexibility. Other initialisation strategies often fail to recover from early overoptimisation. These findings offer actionable insights for building more stable and generalisable RLHF pipelines.

RLHF过优化大模型对齐

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