arXiv:2506.17219cs.LGcs.AI2025-06被引 27

用模型自生信号替代人工反馈,提升大模型推理能力但效果随训练下降

No Free Lunch: Rethinking Internal Feedback for LLM Reasoning

  • 用熵和自信心等内部信号代替外部奖励进行强化学习
  • 初期能显著提升基础模型推理性能,媲美或超越依赖外部反馈的方法
  • 训练后期性能反降,且对已指令微调的模型几乎无效

强化学习已成为提升大语言模型推理能力的重要后训练范式。尽管基于人类反馈(RLHF)和可验证奖励(RLVR)的方法表现优异,但依赖大量外部监督。本文研究一种仅使用模型内生信号的强化学习方法——内部反馈强化学习(RLIF),利用如分词级别熵、轨迹级别熵和自信心等无监督奖励代理。理论分析表明这些目标部分等价,实验评估显示在数学推理基准上,RLIF在训练初期可显著提升基础模型表现,达到甚至超过RLVR水平;但随着训练推进,性能反而下降至初始以下。此外,对指令微调模型的测试发现其改进极小,说明一旦模型已优化,内在反馈收益递减。通过混合模型权重的分析揭示了这一现象的成因,并为如何有效整合内部反馈提供了实用建议。期望本工作推动更系统、高效的后训练策略发展。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Reinforcement learning has emerged as a powerful paradigm for post-training large language models (LLMs) to improve reasoning. Approaches like Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) and Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) have shown strong results, but they require extensive external supervision. We investigate an alternative class of methods, Reinforcement Learning from Internal Feedback (RLIF), which relies solely on intrinsic model-derived signals instead of external rewards. In particular, we leverage unsupervised reward proxies such as token-level entropy, trajectory-level entropy, and self-certainty. Our theoretical analysis shows these internal objectives are partially equivalent, and we empirically evaluate various RLIF strategies on challenging math reasoning benchmarks. Experimental results demonstrate that RLIF can boost the reasoning performance of base LLMs at the beginning phase of the training, matching or surpassing RLVR techniques on these tasks. However, when training progresses, performance degrades even below the model before training. Moreover, we find that RLIF yields little improvement for instruction-tuned models, indicating diminishing returns of intrinsic feedback once an LLM is already instruction-tuned. We further analyze this limitation by mixing model weights and explain the reason of RLIF's training behaviors, providing practical guidelines for integrating internal feedback signals into LLM training. We hope our analysis of internal feedback will inform more principled and effective strategies for LLM post-training.

大模型推理强化学习内部反馈后训练

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