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Open problems in Learning verifiable rewards

Poor credit assignment in diffusion model RL1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
Limits efficiency and stability when fine-tuning diffusion models with black-box rewards.
- DiffusionART: Efficient, Stable and Scalable Reinforcement of Diffusion Modelsraises · addresses
Vanishing group-relative reward signals1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
All rollouts receiving the same reward lose useful trajectory-level information for learning.
- Self-Retrospection Distillation: Turning Post-hoc Experiences into Prior Foresightraises · addresses
Memory inefficiency in LLM RL post-training1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
High memory demands prevent scaling RL to larger models or longer training runs.
- LoGRA: Scaling LLM Reinforcement Learning with Low-Rank Gradient Sketchesraises · addresses
Sparse terminal rewards break value tracking1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
Standard critics fail to model value evolution along trajectories, harming credit assignment.
- TPPO: Tracking-Value PPO For Language Model Reasoningraises · addresses
Reward hacking in rubric-based RL1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
Additive reward aggregation allows policies to exploit criteria compensation, degrading task performance.
- Scoring Higher, Answering Worse: Mitigating Reward Hacking in Rubric-Based RL via Protocol-Level Rubricsraises · addresses

Named by an AI from these papers' abstracts.

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Topics in this field

learning verifiable rewards · reinforcement learning rl · reinforcement learning verifiable312 papers62 this week
optimal regret · near optimal · bandits209 papers39 this week
offline reinforcement learning · offline reinforcement · reinforcement learning rl171 papers32 this week
reinforcement learning rl · reinforcement learning · markov decision processes98 papers16 this week
policy gradient · reinforcement learning rl · reinforcement learning verifiable90 papers16 this week

Topics in this field

Active contributors · 90 days

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arXiv cs.LGOct 19
A Simple and General Approach to top-$k$ Selection
Motti Goldberger, Nils Rudi
This paper considers the Bayesian top-$k$ identification problem, wherein a decision maker is tasked with selecting $k$ items from a pool of items of unknown quality. To assess the items, the decision maker adaptively allocates a fixed sampling budget, where each sample of an item yields a noisy observation of its quality, with the objective of minimizing the expected opportunity cost of the selected set. We propose an approach that allocates each batch of samples by minimizing a surrogate objective derived from an upper bound on the expected opportunity cost. The approach is general: samples can be allocated in batches, the selection size $k$ is arbitrary, and it applies to many sampling distributions. It is also simple and intuitive. We prove that the method's posterior expected opportunity cost decays at an exponential rate of at least half the best rate achievable by any sampling rule. In simulations across a wide range of settings, the method is competitive with, and often improves upon, the best existing algorithm in each setting.
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.LGOct 19
Toward Online Robust Zero-Sum Markov Games with Function Approximation
Chenhao Zhou, Jiyu Wei
Online robust zero-sum Markov games pose a coupled operator-learning and game-solving problem: from nominal interaction data, the learner must recover a worst-case minimax Bellman operator while maintaining strategic coverage and controlling stage-game approximation error. Existing robust reinforcement-learning theory does not yet provide such an operator-learning perspective beyond specialized multi-agent settings. We develop an optimistic dual robust Bellman framework that combines dual robust Bellman fitting, optimistic minimax planning, backward-validated confidence sets, and exploiter-mix data collection. Our analysis is organized around the robust Bellman residuals induced by the candidate value class and yields a regret reduction that separates exploration complexity, robust operator-estimation error, stage-game solution error, and misspecification. Under explicit interpretable assumptions, we obtain conditional theorem interfaces for general and projected function approximation, together with closed results in several structured regimes, including tabular, epochwise cross-fit linear, self-normalized pure-online linear / finite-rank kernel, and projected RKHS truncation.…
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.AIOct 19
LOCU: Lowdin-Orthogonalized Constraint Updates for Multi-Constraint Policy Optimization
Joonyoung Lim, Younghwan Yoo
We investigate multi-constraint policy optimization in constrained Markov decision processes (CMDPs), where interactions among constraint gradients often yield ill-conditioned update directions, causing numerically fragile steps and unintended cancellation or redundant overlap in constraint corrections. To address this, we propose LOCU, which mitigates numerical instability arising from constraint interactions by applying symmetric Lowdin orthogonalization to the natural gradients of the reward and constraints under the Fisher-Rao metric. Combined with Fisher-geometric screening and near-collinear compression, LOCU yields a compact reduced space in which the trust region becomes a Euclidean ball and constraints are handled symmetrically through a low-dimensional active-set solve. For infeasible iterates, LOCU constructs a Pareto-descent direction which preserves the local feasibility of satisfied constraints within the same reduced formulation. Experiments show that LOCU remains stable under high constraint coupling, narrow feasible regions, and infeasible starts, and generalizes across different cost critic architectures.
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.LGOct 19
TaQFormer: A Treatment-as-Query Transformer with Data-Fusion for Multidimensional Treatment Modeling in Coupon Allocation
Jiahong Li, Zeqin Yang, Yu Xiang, Zhifan Jiang, Jingqi Ma +6
We study coupon allocation on an online marketplace offering multiple service categories. Issuing coupons requires choosing a vector of category-specific discounts, accounting for both their direct effects and cross-category demand shifts. We present TaQFormer, a treatment-as-query Transformer for this multidimensional treatment setting. Each treatment coordinate is represented as a query token, allowing cross-attention to estimate the response to the full treatment vector. To combine large but policy-biased observational logs with a smaller stream of randomized controlled trial data, we use a two-stage pipeline: observational pretraining learns general outcome patterns, followed by LoRA fine-tuning on RCT data with a request-specific fusion gate. We evaluate the resulting system through the checks required for production, including offline uplift metrics, treatment-parallel serving, latency monitoring, and a 14-day online A/B test. At essentially the same subsidy cost rate, \model increases business value per user by 1.26\% over the production baseline and significantly outperforms both the production baseline and the RCT-only model, while meeting the latency budget. It was…
PDF arXiv
arXiv physics.plasm-phOct 19
Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Fusion Scenario Development
Evgeny Adishchev, Maxim Nurgaliev, Dmitry Sorokin, Alexander Granovsky, Maksim Stokolesov +3
Scenario development, the design of the waveforms that take a tokamak discharge from breakdown to flat-top, is still an iterative, labour-intensive process. Every candidate scenario has to be simulated with a controller in the loop, and the classical shape and current controllers need low-level actuator references. So the process is iterative and includes a number of trial-and-error steps. We propose to replace the per-scenario controller tuning by a single goal-conditioned reinforcement-learning controller trained once, in advance, against a free-boundary equilibrium and transport simulator. A scenario is then specified only by the target waveforms of the physical quantities of interest (plasma current, line-averaged electron density, LCFS shape, x-point positions), and the controller produces the coil-current and fueling commands that realize them. We demonstrate the approach on an EAST plasma-current ramp-up: the controller takes over a small limited plasma, ramps the current and the density, grows the cross-section, forms two x-points and holds a double-null diverted configuration against sampled shape targets for the rest of a 1.2 s episode. The neural network controller is…
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.LGOct 19
Variance-Aware Non-Stationary Bandits:All-Budget Regret Bounds and Adaptation Costs
Xiaojin Zhang
Low reward variance reduces estimation cost, but does not eliminate monitoring of arms that may improve while unobserved. We refine the variance--variation tradeoff and characterize how both costs depend on supplied variance and variation budgets in bounded, non-stationary multi-armed bandits. Let $A$ be the number of arms, $T$ the horizon, $B$ a bound on consecutive mean variation excluding the initial vector, and $Q$ a bound on the sum of the largest per-round reward variances. For every admissible pair $Q,B$, the minimax expected dynamic regret is, within a single logarithmic factor, \[ \min\{T,\;A+\sqrt{AQ}+(AQBT)^{1/3} +\sqrt{AT}\min\{B,\sqrt B\}\}. \] The deterministic boundary $Q=0$ is characterized without logarithms. For small positive budgets, a safe calibration phase identifies a common interval containing all future means of surviving arms. Clipping observations to a wider interval reduces the cost of restarting a prior hybrid static-regret algorithm; an original-mean analytical reference controls its residuals without charging the variation of clipped means. Balancing clipping bias and monitoring closes the small-budget noisy regime. Fixed oblivious constructions…
PDF arXiv

Papers

Topics in this field

learning verifiable rewards · reinforcement learning rl · reinforcement learning verifiable312 papers62 this week
optimal regret · near optimal · bandits209 papers39 this week
offline reinforcement learning · offline reinforcement · reinforcement learning rl171 papers32 this week
reinforcement learning rl · reinforcement learning · markov decision processes98 papers16 this week
policy gradient · reinforcement learning rl · reinforcement learning verifiable90 papers16 this week

Active contributors · 90 days

Recent papers

All in Research →

arXiv cs.LGOct 19
A Simple and General Approach to top-$k$ Selection
Motti Goldberger, Nils Rudi
This paper considers the Bayesian top-$k$ identification problem, wherein a decision maker is tasked with selecting $k$ items from a pool of items of unknown quality. To assess the items, the decision maker adaptively allocates a fixed sampling budget, where each sample of an item yields a noisy observation of its quality, with the objective of minimizing the expected opportunity cost of the selected set. We propose an approach that allocates each batch of samples by minimizing a surrogate objective derived from an upper bound on the expected opportunity cost. The approach is general: samples can be allocated in batches, the selection size $k$ is arbitrary, and it applies to many sampling distributions. It is also simple and intuitive. We prove that the method's posterior expected opportunity cost decays at an exponential rate of at least half the best rate achievable by any sampling rule. In simulations across a wide range of settings, the method is competitive with, and often improves upon, the best existing algorithm in each setting.
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.LGOct 19
Toward Online Robust Zero-Sum Markov Games with Function Approximation
Chenhao Zhou, Jiyu Wei
Online robust zero-sum Markov games pose a coupled operator-learning and game-solving problem: from nominal interaction data, the learner must recover a worst-case minimax Bellman operator while maintaining strategic coverage and controlling stage-game approximation error. Existing robust reinforcement-learning theory does not yet provide such an operator-learning perspective beyond specialized multi-agent settings. We develop an optimistic dual robust Bellman framework that combines dual robust Bellman fitting, optimistic minimax planning, backward-validated confidence sets, and exploiter-mix data collection. Our analysis is organized around the robust Bellman residuals induced by the candidate value class and yields a regret reduction that separates exploration complexity, robust operator-estimation error, stage-game solution error, and misspecification. Under explicit interpretable assumptions, we obtain conditional theorem interfaces for general and projected function approximation, together with closed results in several structured regimes, including tabular, epochwise cross-fit linear, self-normalized pure-online linear / finite-rank kernel, and projected RKHS truncation.…
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.AIOct 19
LOCU: Lowdin-Orthogonalized Constraint Updates for Multi-Constraint Policy Optimization
Joonyoung Lim, Younghwan Yoo
We investigate multi-constraint policy optimization in constrained Markov decision processes (CMDPs), where interactions among constraint gradients often yield ill-conditioned update directions, causing numerically fragile steps and unintended cancellation or redundant overlap in constraint corrections. To address this, we propose LOCU, which mitigates numerical instability arising from constraint interactions by applying symmetric Lowdin orthogonalization to the natural gradients of the reward and constraints under the Fisher-Rao metric. Combined with Fisher-geometric screening and near-collinear compression, LOCU yields a compact reduced space in which the trust region becomes a Euclidean ball and constraints are handled symmetrically through a low-dimensional active-set solve. For infeasible iterates, LOCU constructs a Pareto-descent direction which preserves the local feasibility of satisfied constraints within the same reduced formulation. Experiments show that LOCU remains stable under high constraint coupling, narrow feasible regions, and infeasible starts, and generalizes across different cost critic architectures.
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.LGOct 19
TaQFormer: A Treatment-as-Query Transformer with Data-Fusion for Multidimensional Treatment Modeling in Coupon Allocation
Jiahong Li, Zeqin Yang, Yu Xiang, Zhifan Jiang, Jingqi Ma +6
We study coupon allocation on an online marketplace offering multiple service categories. Issuing coupons requires choosing a vector of category-specific discounts, accounting for both their direct effects and cross-category demand shifts. We present TaQFormer, a treatment-as-query Transformer for this multidimensional treatment setting. Each treatment coordinate is represented as a query token, allowing cross-attention to estimate the response to the full treatment vector. To combine large but policy-biased observational logs with a smaller stream of randomized controlled trial data, we use a two-stage pipeline: observational pretraining learns general outcome patterns, followed by LoRA fine-tuning on RCT data with a request-specific fusion gate. We evaluate the resulting system through the checks required for production, including offline uplift metrics, treatment-parallel serving, latency monitoring, and a 14-day online A/B test. At essentially the same subsidy cost rate, \model increases business value per user by 1.26\% over the production baseline and significantly outperforms both the production baseline and the RCT-only model, while meeting the latency budget. It was…
PDF arXiv
arXiv physics.plasm-phOct 19
Reinforcement Learning Controllers for Fusion Scenario Development
Evgeny Adishchev, Maxim Nurgaliev, Dmitry Sorokin, Alexander Granovsky, Maksim Stokolesov +3
Scenario development, the design of the waveforms that take a tokamak discharge from breakdown to flat-top, is still an iterative, labour-intensive process. Every candidate scenario has to be simulated with a controller in the loop, and the classical shape and current controllers need low-level actuator references. So the process is iterative and includes a number of trial-and-error steps. We propose to replace the per-scenario controller tuning by a single goal-conditioned reinforcement-learning controller trained once, in advance, against a free-boundary equilibrium and transport simulator. A scenario is then specified only by the target waveforms of the physical quantities of interest (plasma current, line-averaged electron density, LCFS shape, x-point positions), and the controller produces the coil-current and fueling commands that realize them. We demonstrate the approach on an EAST plasma-current ramp-up: the controller takes over a small limited plasma, ramps the current and the density, grows the cross-section, forms two x-points and holds a double-null diverted configuration against sampled shape targets for the rest of a 1.2 s episode. The neural network controller is…
PDF arXiv
arXiv cs.LGOct 19
Variance-Aware Non-Stationary Bandits:All-Budget Regret Bounds and Adaptation Costs
Xiaojin Zhang
Low reward variance reduces estimation cost, but does not eliminate monitoring of arms that may improve while unobserved. We refine the variance--variation tradeoff and characterize how both costs depend on supplied variance and variation budgets in bounded, non-stationary multi-armed bandits. Let $A$ be the number of arms, $T$ the horizon, $B$ a bound on consecutive mean variation excluding the initial vector, and $Q$ a bound on the sum of the largest per-round reward variances. For every admissible pair $Q,B$, the minimax expected dynamic regret is, within a single logarithmic factor, \[ \min\{T,\;A+\sqrt{AQ}+(AQBT)^{1/3} +\sqrt{AT}\min\{B,\sqrt B\}\}. \] The deterministic boundary $Q=0$ is characterized without logarithms. For small positive budgets, a safe calibration phase identifies a common interval containing all future means of surviving arms. Clipping observations to a wider interval reduces the cost of restarting a prior hybrid static-regret algorithm; an original-mean analytical reference controls its residuals without charging the variation of clipped means. Balancing clipping bias and monitoring closes the small-budget noisy regime. Fixed oblivious constructions…
PDF arXiv

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Learning verifiable rewards

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Open problems in Learning verifiable rewards

Poor credit assignment in diffusion model RL1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
Limits efficiency and stability when fine-tuning diffusion models with black-box rewards.
- DiffusionART: Efficient, Stable and Scalable Reinforcement of Diffusion Modelsraises · addresses
Vanishing group-relative reward signals1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
All rollouts receiving the same reward lose useful trajectory-level information for learning.
- Self-Retrospection Distillation: Turning Post-hoc Experiences into Prior Foresightraises · addresses
Memory inefficiency in LLM RL post-training1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
High memory demands prevent scaling RL to larger models or longer training runs.
- LoGRA: Scaling LLM Reinforcement Learning with Low-Rank Gradient Sketchesraises · addresses
Sparse terminal rewards break value tracking1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
Standard critics fail to model value evolution along trajectories, harming credit assignment.
- TPPO: Tracking-Value PPO For Language Model Reasoningraises · addresses
Reward hacking in rubric-based RL1 paper raises it · 1 addresses it
Additive reward aggregation allows policies to exploit criteria compensation, degrading task performance.
- Scoring Higher, Answering Worse: Mitigating Reward Hacking in Rubric-Based RL via Protocol-Level Rubricsraises · addresses

Named by an AI from these papers' abstracts.