Bandit-Based Prompt Design Strategy Selection Improves Prompt Optimizers

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ashizawa, Rin, Hirose, Yoichi, Yoshinari, Nozomu, Uchida, Kento, Shirakawa, Shinichi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866909683496779776
author Ashizawa, Rin
Hirose, Yoichi
Yoshinari, Nozomu
Uchida, Kento
Shirakawa, Shinichi
author_facet Ashizawa, Rin
Hirose, Yoichi
Yoshinari, Nozomu
Uchida, Kento
Shirakawa, Shinichi
contents Prompt optimization aims to search for effective prompts that enhance the performance of large language models (LLMs). Although existing prompt optimization methods have discovered effective prompts, they often differ from sophisticated prompts carefully designed by human experts. Prompt design strategies, representing best practices for improving prompt performance, can be key to improving prompt optimization. Recently, a method termed the Autonomous Prompt Engineering Toolbox (APET) has incorporated various prompt design strategies into the prompt optimization process. In APET, the LLM is needed to implicitly select and apply the appropriate strategies because prompt design strategies can have negative effects. This implicit selection may be suboptimal due to the limited optimization capabilities of LLMs. This paper introduces Optimizing Prompts with sTrategy Selection (OPTS), which implements explicit selection mechanisms for prompt design. We propose three mechanisms, including a Thompson sampling-based approach, and integrate them into EvoPrompt, a well-known prompt optimizer. Experiments optimizing prompts for two LLMs, Llama-3-8B-Instruct and GPT-4o mini, were conducted using BIG-Bench Hard. Our results show that the selection of prompt design strategies improves the performance of EvoPrompt, and the Thompson sampling-based mechanism achieves the best overall results. Our experimental code is provided at https://github.com/shiralab/OPTS .
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_01163
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bandit-Based Prompt Design Strategy Selection Improves Prompt Optimizers
Ashizawa, Rin
Hirose, Yoichi
Yoshinari, Nozomu
Uchida, Kento
Shirakawa, Shinichi
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
Human-Computer Interaction
Machine Learning
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Prompt optimization aims to search for effective prompts that enhance the performance of large language models (LLMs). Although existing prompt optimization methods have discovered effective prompts, they often differ from sophisticated prompts carefully designed by human experts. Prompt design strategies, representing best practices for improving prompt performance, can be key to improving prompt optimization. Recently, a method termed the Autonomous Prompt Engineering Toolbox (APET) has incorporated various prompt design strategies into the prompt optimization process. In APET, the LLM is needed to implicitly select and apply the appropriate strategies because prompt design strategies can have negative effects. This implicit selection may be suboptimal due to the limited optimization capabilities of LLMs. This paper introduces Optimizing Prompts with sTrategy Selection (OPTS), which implements explicit selection mechanisms for prompt design. We propose three mechanisms, including a Thompson sampling-based approach, and integrate them into EvoPrompt, a well-known prompt optimizer. Experiments optimizing prompts for two LLMs, Llama-3-8B-Instruct and GPT-4o mini, were conducted using BIG-Bench Hard. Our results show that the selection of prompt design strategies improves the performance of EvoPrompt, and the Thompson sampling-based mechanism achieves the best overall results. Our experimental code is provided at https://github.com/shiralab/OPTS .
title Bandit-Based Prompt Design Strategy Selection Improves Prompt Optimizers
topic Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
Human-Computer Interaction
Machine Learning
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.01163