arXiv:2602.06337cs.CLcs.AI2026-02ACL被引 3

通过后训练让小模型具备强因果推理能力,效果超过大模型。

Can Post-Training Transform LLMs into Causal Reasoners?

  • 用七类因果任务数据集系统测试五种后训练方法。
  • 140亿参数模型在CaLM上达93.5%准确率,超o3模型近40个百分点。
  • 模型在分布偏移和噪声下仍表现稳健,适合实际决策场景。

因果推断对决策至关重要但对非专家仍具挑战。尽管大语言模型(LLMs)在此领域展现潜力,其精确因果估计能力仍有限,且后训练对其影响尚不明确。本文系统评估后训练对提升LLM因果推理能力的效果。我们提出CauGym,一个包含七项核心因果任务的训练数据集及五组多样化测试集。基于此,我们系统评估了五种后训练方法:SFT、DPO、KTO、PPO 和 GRPO。在五个域内及四个现有基准上,实验表明,适当后训练使小型模型在因果推理上达到与大型模型竞争的表现,常超越更大模型。我们的140亿参数模型在CaLM基准上取得93.5%准确率,相较OpenAI o3的55.4%有显著提升。此外,后训练模型在真实世界条件下(如分布偏移、噪声数据)展现出强泛化性与鲁棒性。这些发现首次系统证明,针对性后训练可生成可靠且稳健的基于大模型的因果推理器。数据与GRPO模型已开源于https://github.com/OpenCausaLab/CauGym。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Causal inference is essential for decision-making but remains challenging for non-experts. While large language models (LLMs) show promise in this domain, their precise causal estimation capabilities are still limited, and the impact of post-training on these abilities is insufficiently explored. This paper examines the extent to which post-training can enhance LLMs' capacity for causal inference. We introduce CauGym, a comprehensive dataset comprising seven core causal tasks for training and five diverse test sets. Using this dataset, we systematically evaluate five post-training approaches: SFT, DPO, KTO, PPO, and GRPO. Across five in-domain and four existing benchmarks, our experiments demonstrate that appropriate post-training enables smaller LLMs to perform causal inference competitively, often surpassing much larger models. Our 14B parameter model achieves 93.5% accuracy on the CaLM benchmark, compared to 55.4% by OpenAI o3. Furthermore, the post-trained LLMs exhibit strong generalization and robustness under real-world conditions such as distribution shifts and noisy data. Collectively, these findings provide the first systematic evidence that targeted post-training can produce reliable and robust LLM-based causal reasoners. Our data and GRPO-model are available at https://github.com/OpenCausaLab/CauGym.

因果推理后训练大模型

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