Provable Reward-Agnostic Preference-Based Reinforcement Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhan, Wenhao, Uehara, Masatoshi, Sun, Wen, Lee, Jason D.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Zhan, Wenhao
Uehara, Masatoshi
Sun, Wen
Lee, Jason D.
author_facet Zhan, Wenhao
Uehara, Masatoshi
Sun, Wen
Lee, Jason D.
contents Preference-based Reinforcement Learning (PbRL) is a paradigm in which an RL agent learns to optimize a task using pair-wise preference-based feedback over trajectories, rather than explicit reward signals. While PbRL has demonstrated practical success in fine-tuning language models, existing theoretical work focuses on regret minimization and fails to capture most of the practical frameworks. In this study, we fill in such a gap between theoretical PbRL and practical algorithms by proposing a theoretical reward-agnostic PbRL framework where exploratory trajectories that enable accurate learning of hidden reward functions are acquired before collecting any human feedback. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that our algorithm requires less human feedback for learning the optimal policy under preference-based models with linear parameterization and unknown transitions, compared to the existing theoretical literature. Specifically, our framework can incorporate linear and low-rank MDPs with efficient sample complexity. Additionally, we investigate reward-agnostic RL with action-based comparison feedback and introduce an efficient querying algorithm tailored to this scenario.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2305_18505
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Provable Reward-Agnostic Preference-Based Reinforcement Learning
Zhan, Wenhao
Uehara, Masatoshi
Sun, Wen
Lee, Jason D.
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Statistics Theory
Preference-based Reinforcement Learning (PbRL) is a paradigm in which an RL agent learns to optimize a task using pair-wise preference-based feedback over trajectories, rather than explicit reward signals. While PbRL has demonstrated practical success in fine-tuning language models, existing theoretical work focuses on regret minimization and fails to capture most of the practical frameworks. In this study, we fill in such a gap between theoretical PbRL and practical algorithms by proposing a theoretical reward-agnostic PbRL framework where exploratory trajectories that enable accurate learning of hidden reward functions are acquired before collecting any human feedback. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that our algorithm requires less human feedback for learning the optimal policy under preference-based models with linear parameterization and unknown transitions, compared to the existing theoretical literature. Specifically, our framework can incorporate linear and low-rank MDPs with efficient sample complexity. Additionally, we investigate reward-agnostic RL with action-based comparison feedback and introduce an efficient querying algorithm tailored to this scenario.
title Provable Reward-Agnostic Preference-Based Reinforcement Learning
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Statistics Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.18505