arXiv:2607.18689cs.LGcs.IR2026-07

提出基于曝光的强化学习排序方法,实现高效稳定且易用的排名优化。

Exposure-Based Reinforcement Learning to Rank

  • 通过曝光分布重构梯度估计,避免复杂自定义梯度计算。
  • 在GPU上实现更快收敛与更高排名性能,训练更稳定。
  • 只需定义可微曝光损失函数,即可无缝接入自动微分,适合实践者使用。

针对排序任务中的强化学习方法因动作空间过大导致效率低、计算成本高的问题,本文提出一种基于曝光的强化学习排序新框架。该方法摒弃传统自定义梯度计算,转而通过基线修正与部分边际化实现高样本效率。核心思想是将梯度估计抽象为文档曝光分布的函数,使损失函数仅需作为曝光的可微函数即可直接利用自动微分进行优化。实验表明,该方法在GPU上收敛速度显著快于现有自定义梯度方法,且排名性能更高,训练过程无稳定性问题。相较之下,原有方法在多轮训练中常出现严重不稳定现象。本方法大幅提升了强化学习排序的有效性、效率与实用性。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Reinforcement learning (RL) methods for learning-to-rank (LTR) can optimize (almost) any ranking goal, e.g., from precision or discounted cumulative gain to fairness-of-exposure or ranking distillation. However, standard RL is ineffective and computationally costly due to the enormous action space in LTR settings. Existing methods reach computational efficiency through custom gradient computation algorithms, but they are very complex to implement and often clash with auto-differentiation. Consequently, existing RL for LTR is not attractive to many practitioners. We reconsider RL for LTR while actively avoiding reliance on custom gradients. Contrary to the existing approaches, we focus on variance reduction and GPU computation. In doing so, we discover that high sample-efficiency can be reached through baseline corrections and partial marginalization. Furthermore, we propose an abstraction that places gradient estimation behind a document-exposure distribution, this enables seamless plug-and-play integration with auto-differentiation. Thereby, one only has to implement a loss as a differentiable function of exposure and RL for LTR can optimize it using auto-differentiation. Our experimental results reveal that our new exposure-based RL for LTR approach converges considerably faster and at significantly higher ranking performance than existing custom gradients, with no additional costs in computation time when using GPUs. In contrast, existing custom gradients result in severe stability issues when converging over many epochs, which never occur for our methods. Thus, we considerably improve RL for LTR methodology by increasing its effectiveness, efficiency, and ease of application.

强化学习排序优化自动微分曝光建模

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