arXiv:2605.24202cs.AIcs.LG2026-05被引 1

多智能体强化学习能否提升大模型工作流,取决于任务、规模和协作方式。

When Does Multi-Agent RL Improve LLM Workflows? Workflow, Scale, and Policy-Sharing Tradeoffs

  • 对比共享与独立策略训练,发现性能受工作流和任务类型共同影响。
  • 独立策略峰值准确率更高但易突然崩溃,共享策略则稳定但仍有失败模式。
  • 揭示了梯度动态如何导致不同失败现象,指导模型设计选择。

多智能体大模型工作流通过角色分工提升任务准确性,但端到端强化学习训练常不稳定且机制不明。本文对比共享策略(所有角色共用一个策略)与独立策略(每个角色独立更新参数)在三种工作流(Eval-Opt、Voting、Orch-Workers)、数学与代码任务及三个模型规模(0.6B、1.7B、4B)下的表现。结果表明:多智能体强化学习通常优于基础模型,但增益由工作流、任务和规模共同决定,而非仅政策共享。独立策略达更高峰值准确率,但更易发生终端准确率骤降;共享策略虽未消除失败,却将失败转化为不同模式。进一步分析发现:独立策略下并行同角色代理在共享提示上放大梯度,引发Voting与Orch-Workers中的终端退化;共享策略下异步梯度质量差异使共享策略被主导角色捕获,导致任务与工作流相关的失败特征。整体表明,政策共享并非统一稳定方案,而是依赖于工作流与任务的权衡设计。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Multi-agent LLM workflows route inference through specialized roles to lift end-task accuracy, but jointly training those roles with reinforcement learning is unstable in ways that are poorly understood. We study when end-to-end RL training of multi-agent LLM workflows improves over their base models, comparing Shared-Policy training, where all roles update one policy, with Isolated-Policy training, where each role has its own parameters. Our experimental matrix spans Eval-Opt, Voting, and Orch-Workers workflows, math and code tasks, and three model scales (0.6B, 1.7B, 4B). We find that multi-agent RL usually improves over base models, but gains depend jointly on workflow, task, and scale, not on policy sharing alone. Isolated-Policy tends to reach higher peak accuracy yet more often falls off a terminal accuracy cliff, while Shared-Policy training does not eliminate failure; it redistributes failure into qualitatively different patterns. We then explain the strongest of these patterns through role-level gradient dynamics induced by workflow topology and policy routing: under Isolated-Policy, parallel same-role agents on shared prompts amplify per-role gradients and drive terminal degradation in Voting and Orch-Workers workflows; under Shared-Policy, asymmetric per-step gradient mass causes the shared policy to be captured by the dominant role, producing different failure signatures by task and workflow. Together, the empirical map and its underlying mechanisms show that policy sharing routes training pressure through different channels rather than offering uniform stability, making it a design choice with workflow- and task-conditional tradeoffs.

多智能体强化学习大模型工作流优化

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