arXiv:2604.17337cs.AI2026-04ACL

用强化学习动态调整搜索深度,让AI问答更省力又准确。

AutoSearch: Adaptive Search Depth for Efficient Agentic RAG via Reinforcement Learning

论文配图:AutoSearch: Adaptive Search Depth for Efficient Agentic RAG via Reinforcement Learning
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 通过自生成答案评估每步搜索价值,决定何时停止
  • 在多个基准上实现更高准确率与更低延迟的平衡
  • 适合需要高效复杂推理的智能体系统开发者

基于大语言模型的智能体检索增强生成系统通过多步外部检索完成复杂任务,但常因冗余搜索导致计算开销大、延迟高。现有方法限制搜索步数以降低成本,却易造成复杂问题探索不足。本文首先分析搜索深度对准确率的影响,发现存在一个由问题复杂度与智能体能力共同决定的最小有效搜索深度。为此提出AutoSearch框架,利用强化学习,通过自生成中间答案评估每一步搜索价值,在达成最小必要深度时给予奖励,过度搜索则施加惩罚。同时引入奖励机制稳定搜索行为,提升复杂问题解答质量。在多个基准测试中,AutoSearch实现了更优的准确率-效率权衡,减少冗余搜索且保持高搜索质量。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Agentic retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems enable large language models (LLMs) to solve complex tasks through multi-step interaction with external retrieval tools. However, such multi-step interaction often involves redundant search steps, incurring substantial computational cost and latency. Prior work limits search depth (i.e., the number of search steps) to reduce cost, but this often leads to underexploration of complex questions. To address this, we first investigate how search depth affects accuracy and find a minimal sufficient search depth that defines an accuracy-efficiency trade-off, jointly determined by question complexity and the agent's capability. Furthermore, we propose AutoSearch, a reinforcement learning (RL) framework that evaluates each search step via self-generated intermediate answers. By a self-answering mechanism, AutoSearch identifies the minimal sufficient search depth and promotes efficient search by rewarding its attainment while penalizing over-searching. In addition, reward mechanisms are introduced to stabilize search behavior and improve answer quality on complex questions. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmarks show that AutoSearch achieves a superior accuracy-efficiency trade-off, alleviating over-searching while preserving search quality.

智能体RAG强化学习效率优化

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