arXiv:2509.16865cs.AI2025-09NeurIPS被引 31

让大模型直接从自然语言解组合优化问题,不依赖代码或手动调参。

Large Language Models as End-to-end Combinatorial Optimization Solvers

  • 用两阶段训练让大模型直接从描述生成解,跳过中间代码步骤。
  • 在7个难题上平均最优性差距降至1.03%-8.20%,可行性高。
  • 适合想快速试错但无算法背景的研究者或工程师。

组合优化(CO)问题在物流、制造等决策场景中至关重要,传统方法依赖特定算法且需大量领域知识。尽管大语言模型(LLM)在自动化求解方面展现潜力,现有方法仍依赖代码生成或求解器调用等中间步骤,限制了通用性与可及性。本文提出新框架,使LLM能作为端到端的CO求解器,直接将自然语言问题描述映射为解。采用两阶段训练:监督微调(SFT)赋予模型来自领域专用求解器的解生成模式;可行性与最优性感知强化学习(FOARL)则显式减少约束违反并提升解质量。在七个NP难问题上的评估显示,该方法可行性高,平均最优性差距降至1.03%-8.20%(仅微调70亿参数模型),优于通用大模型(如GPT-4o)、推理模型(如DeepSeek-R1)及领域启发式算法。本方法建立统一的语言驱动流程,无需复杂代码执行或针对不同问题的手动结构调整,为传统求解器设计提供通用、语言化的替代方案,同时保持相对的可行性保障。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Combinatorial optimization (CO) problems, central to decision-making scenarios like logistics and manufacturing, are traditionally solved using problem-specific algorithms requiring significant domain expertise. While large language models (LLMs) have shown promise in automating CO problem solving, existing approaches rely on intermediate steps such as code generation or solver invocation, limiting their generality and accessibility. This paper introduces a novel framework that empowers LLMs to serve as end-to-end CO solvers by directly mapping natural language problem descriptions to solutions. We propose a two-stage training strategy: supervised fine-tuning (SFT) imparts LLMs with solution generation patterns from domain-specific solvers, while a feasibility-and-optimality-aware reinforcement learning (FOARL) process explicitly mitigates constraint violations and refines solution quality. Evaluation across seven NP-hard CO problems shows that our method achieves a high feasibility rate and reduces the average optimality gap to 1.03-8.20% by tuning a 7B-parameter LLM, surpassing both general-purpose LLMs (e.g., GPT-4o), reasoning models (e.g., DeepSeek-R1), and domain-specific heuristics. Our method establishes a unified language-based pipeline for CO without extensive code execution or manual architectural adjustments for different problems, offering a general and language-driven alternative to traditional solver design while maintaining relative feasibility guarantees.

组合优化大模型端到端语言驱动

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