T-REG: Preference Optimization with Token-Level Reward Regularization

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Zhou, Wenxuan, Zhang, Shujian, Zhao, Lingxiao, Meng, Tao
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Zhou, Wenxuan
Zhang, Shujian
Zhao, Lingxiao
Meng, Tao
author_facet Zhou, Wenxuan
Zhang, Shujian
Zhao, Lingxiao
Meng, Tao
contents Reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) has been crucial in aligning large language models (LLMs) with human values. Traditionally, RLHF involves generating responses to a query and using a reward model to assign a reward to the entire response. However, this approach faces challenges due to its reliance on a single, sparse reward, which makes it challenging for the model to identify which parts of the sequence contribute most significantly to the final reward. Recent methods have attempted to address this limitation by introducing token-level rewards. However, these methods often rely on either a trained credit assignment model or AI annotators, raising concerns about the quality and reliability of the rewards. In this paper, we propose token-level reward regularization (T-REG), a novel approach that leverages both sequence-level and token-level rewards for preference optimization. Harnessing the self-refinement capabilities of LLMs, our method uses contrastive prompting to enable LLMs to self-generate token-level rewards. These self-generated rewards then act as reward regularization, guiding the model to more effectively distribute sequence-level rewards across tokens. This facilitates better token-level credit assignment and enhances alignment performance. Experiments on the instruction following benchmarks, including Alpaca Eval 2 and Arena-Hard, show that our method consistently outperforms baseline methods by up to 3.8% and 4.4%, respectively. We will release the code and models at https://github.com/wzhouad/T-REG.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_02685
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle T-REG: Preference Optimization with Token-Level Reward Regularization
Zhou, Wenxuan
Zhang, Shujian
Zhao, Lingxiao
Meng, Tao
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) has been crucial in aligning large language models (LLMs) with human values. Traditionally, RLHF involves generating responses to a query and using a reward model to assign a reward to the entire response. However, this approach faces challenges due to its reliance on a single, sparse reward, which makes it challenging for the model to identify which parts of the sequence contribute most significantly to the final reward. Recent methods have attempted to address this limitation by introducing token-level rewards. However, these methods often rely on either a trained credit assignment model or AI annotators, raising concerns about the quality and reliability of the rewards. In this paper, we propose token-level reward regularization (T-REG), a novel approach that leverages both sequence-level and token-level rewards for preference optimization. Harnessing the self-refinement capabilities of LLMs, our method uses contrastive prompting to enable LLMs to self-generate token-level rewards. These self-generated rewards then act as reward regularization, guiding the model to more effectively distribute sequence-level rewards across tokens. This facilitates better token-level credit assignment and enhances alignment performance. Experiments on the instruction following benchmarks, including Alpaca Eval 2 and Arena-Hard, show that our method consistently outperforms baseline methods by up to 3.8% and 4.4%, respectively. We will release the code and models at https://github.com/wzhouad/T-REG.
title T-REG: Preference Optimization with Token-Level Reward Regularization
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.02685