LongWriter-Zero: Mastering Ultra-Long Text Generation via Reinforcement Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wu, Yuhao, Bai, Yushi, Hu, Zhiqiang, Lee, Roy Ka-Wei, Li, Juanzi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Wu, Yuhao
Bai, Yushi
Hu, Zhiqiang
Lee, Roy Ka-Wei
Li, Juanzi
author_facet Wu, Yuhao
Bai, Yushi
Hu, Zhiqiang
Lee, Roy Ka-Wei
Li, Juanzi
contents Ultra-long generation by large language models (LLMs) is a widely demanded scenario, yet it remains a significant challenge due to their maximum generation length limit and overall quality degradation as sequence length increases. Previous approaches, exemplified by LongWriter, typically rely on ''teaching'', which involves supervised fine-tuning (SFT) on synthetic long-form outputs. However, this strategy heavily depends on synthetic SFT data, which is difficult and costly to construct, often lacks coherence and consistency, and tends to be overly artificial and structurally monotonous. In this work, we propose an incentivization-based approach that, starting entirely from scratch and without relying on any annotated or synthetic data, leverages reinforcement learning (RL) to foster the emergence of ultra-long, high-quality text generation capabilities in LLMs. We perform RL training starting from a base model, similar to R1-Zero, guiding it to engage in reasoning that facilitates planning and refinement during the writing process. To support this, we employ specialized reward models that steer the LLM towards improved length control, writing quality, and structural formatting. Experimental evaluations show that our LongWriter-Zero model, trained from Qwen2.5-32B, consistently outperforms traditional SFT methods on long-form writing tasks, achieving state-of-the-art results across all metrics on WritingBench and Arena-Write, and even surpassing 100B+ models such as DeepSeek R1 and Qwen3-235B. We open-source our data and model checkpoints under https://huggingface.co/THU-KEG/LongWriter-Zero-32B
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_18841
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle LongWriter-Zero: Mastering Ultra-Long Text Generation via Reinforcement Learning
Wu, Yuhao
Bai, Yushi
Hu, Zhiqiang
Lee, Roy Ka-Wei
Li, Juanzi
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Ultra-long generation by large language models (LLMs) is a widely demanded scenario, yet it remains a significant challenge due to their maximum generation length limit and overall quality degradation as sequence length increases. Previous approaches, exemplified by LongWriter, typically rely on ''teaching'', which involves supervised fine-tuning (SFT) on synthetic long-form outputs. However, this strategy heavily depends on synthetic SFT data, which is difficult and costly to construct, often lacks coherence and consistency, and tends to be overly artificial and structurally monotonous. In this work, we propose an incentivization-based approach that, starting entirely from scratch and without relying on any annotated or synthetic data, leverages reinforcement learning (RL) to foster the emergence of ultra-long, high-quality text generation capabilities in LLMs. We perform RL training starting from a base model, similar to R1-Zero, guiding it to engage in reasoning that facilitates planning and refinement during the writing process. To support this, we employ specialized reward models that steer the LLM towards improved length control, writing quality, and structural formatting. Experimental evaluations show that our LongWriter-Zero model, trained from Qwen2.5-32B, consistently outperforms traditional SFT methods on long-form writing tasks, achieving state-of-the-art results across all metrics on WritingBench and Arena-Write, and even surpassing 100B+ models such as DeepSeek R1 and Qwen3-235B. We open-source our data and model checkpoints under https://huggingface.co/THU-KEG/LongWriter-Zero-32B
title LongWriter-Zero: Mastering Ultra-Long Text Generation via Reinforcement Learning
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18841