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We consider the problem of learning control policies that optimize a reward function while satisfying constraints due to considerations of safety, fairness, or other costs. We propose a new algorithm, Projection-Based Constrained Policy…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-10-08 Tsung-Yen Yang , Justinian Rosca , Karthik Narasimhan , Peter J. Ramadge

Large language models (LLMs) trained via pretraining and supervised fine-tuning (SFT) can still produce harmful and misaligned outputs, or struggle in domains like math and coding. Reinforcement learning (RL)-based post-training methods,…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-05-19 Zhichao Wang , Kiran Ramnath , Bin Bi , Shiva Kumar Pentyala , Sougata Chaudhuri , Shubham Mehrotra , Zixu , Zhu , Xiang-Bo Mao , Sitaram Asur , Na , Cheng

Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) is increasingly viewed as a tree pruning mechanism. However, we identify a systemic pathology termed Recursive Space Contraction (RSC), an irreversible collapse driven by the combined…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-02-06 Tianyi Wang , Long Li , Hongcan Guo , Yibiao Chen , Yixia Li , Yong Wang , Yun Chen , Guanhua Chen

Solving tasks in Reinforcement Learning is no easy feat. As the goal of the agent is to maximize the accumulated reward, it often learns to exploit loopholes and misspecifications in the reward signal resulting in unwanted behavior. While…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-12-27 Chen Tessler , Daniel J. Mankowitz , Shie Mannor

Tool-integrated reasoning (TIR) enables LLM agents to solve tasks through planning, tool use, and iterative revision, but outcome-only reinforcement learning in this setting suffers from sparse, delayed rewards and weak step-level credit…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-02-11 Qiao Liang , Yuke Zhu , Chao Ge , Lei Yang , Ying Shen , Bo Zheng , Sheng Guo

While Reinforcement Learning from Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) has advanced reasoning in Large Vision-Language Models (LVLMs), prevailing frameworks suffer from a foundational methodological flaw: by distributing identical advantages across…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-04-09 Zekai Ye , Qiming Li , Xiaocheng Feng , Ruihan Chen , Ziming Li , Haoyu Ren , Kun Chen , Dandan Tu , Bing Qin

In inverse reinforcement learning (IRL), a learning agent infers a reward function encoding the underlying task using demonstrations from experts. However, many existing IRL techniques make the often unrealistic assumption that the agent…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-01-04 Franck Djeumou , Christian Ellis , Murat Cubuktepe , Craig Lennon , Ufuk Topcu

Reinforcement fine-tuning with verifiable rewards (RLVR) has emerged as a powerful paradigm for equipping large vision-language models (LVLMs) with agentic capabilities such as tool use and multi-step reasoning. Despite striking empirical…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-23 Carter Adams , Rafael Oliveira , Gabriel Almeida , Sofia Torres

Modern policy gradient algorithms, such as TRPO and PPO, outperform vanilla policy gradient in many RL tasks. Questioning the common belief that enforcing approximate trust regions leads to steady policy improvement in practice, we show…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-05-27 Tao Wang , Ruipeng Zhang , Sicun Gao

The role of reinforcement learning (RL) in enhancing the reasoning of large language models (LLMs) is becoming increasingly significant. Despite the success of RL in many scenarios, there are still many challenges in improving the reasoning…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-12-25 Jiacai Liu , Chaojie Wang , Chris Yuhao Liu , Liang Zeng , Rui Yan , Yiwen Sun , Yang Liu , Yahui Zhou

Trust region policy optimization (TRPO) is a popular and empirically successful policy search algorithm in Reinforcement Learning (RL) in which a surrogate problem, that restricts consecutive policies to be 'close' to one another, is…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-12-13 Lior Shani , Yonathan Efroni , Shie Mannor

Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) has improved the reasoning abilities of large language models (LLMs) on mathematics and programming tasks, but standard approaches that optimize single-attempt accuracy can inadvertently…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-27 Devan Shah , Owen Yang , Daniel Yang , Chongyi Zheng , Benjamin Eysenbach

While Reinforcement Learning (RL) has advanced LLM reasoning, applying it to long-context scenarios is hindered by sparsity of outcome rewards. This limitation fails to penalize ungrounded "lucky guesses," leaving the critical process of…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-04-21 Xin Guan , Zijian Li , Shen Huang , Pengjun Xie , Jingren Zhou , Jiuxin Cao

Reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) has emerged as the primary method for aligning large language models (LLMs) with human preferences. While it enables LLMs to achieve human-level alignment, it often incurs significant…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-03-21 Shivank Garg , Ayush Singh , Shweta Singh , Paras Chopra

Reinforcement learning (RL) is effective in enhancing the accuracy of large language models in complex reasoning tasks. Existing RL policy optimization frameworks rely on final-answer correctness as feedback signals and rarely capture the…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-04-13 Jinghan Zhang , Fengran Mo , Tharindu Cyril Weerasooriya , Ruimin Dai , Xiaoyan Han , Yanjie Fu , Dakuo Wang , Kunpeng Liu

Large language models (LLMs) have exhibited remarkable performance on complex reasoning tasks, with reinforcement learning under verifiable rewards (RLVR) emerging as a principled framework for aligning model behavior with reasoning chains.…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-05-05 Yunjian Zhang , Sudong Wang , Yang Li , Peiran Xu , Conghao Zhou , Xiaoyue Ma , Jianing Li , Yao Zhu

Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards has recently advanced the capabilities of Large Language Models in complex reasoning tasks by providing explicit rule-based supervision. Among RLVR methods, GRPO and its variants have achieved…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-11 Zepeng Zhai , Meilin Chen , Jiaxuan Zhao , Junlang Qian , Lei Shen , Yuan Lu

In neural combinatorial optimization (CO), reinforcement learning (RL) can turn a deep neural net into a fast, powerful heuristic solver of NP-hard problems. This approach has a great potential in practical applications because it allows…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-07-14 Yeong-Dae Kwon , Jinho Choo , Byoungjip Kim , Iljoo Yoon , Youngjune Gwon , Seungjai Min

Data-driven offline reinforcement learning and imitation learning approaches have been gaining popularity in addressing sequential decision-making problems. Yet, these approaches rarely consider learning Pareto-optimal policies from a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-08-23 Woo Kyung Kim , Minjong Yoo , Honguk Woo

Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) has emerged as a lightweight and effective alternative to Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) and Reinforcement Learning with AI Feedback (RLAIF) for aligning large language and…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-12-16 Zihui Zhao , Zechang Li