TalkToAgent: A Human-centric Explanation of Reinforcement Learning Agents with Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kim, Haechang, Chen, Hao, Li, Can, Lee, Jong Min
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kim, Haechang
Chen, Hao
Li, Can
Lee, Jong Min
author_facet Kim, Haechang
Chen, Hao
Li, Can
Lee, Jong Min
contents Explainable Reinforcement Learning (XRL) has emerged as a promising approach in improving the transparency of Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents. However, there remains a gap between complex RL policies and domain experts, due to the limited comprehensibility of XRL results and isolated coverage of current XRL approaches that leave users uncertain about which tools to employ. To address these challenges, we introduce TalkToAgent, a multi-agent Large Language Models (LLM) framework that delivers interactive, natural language explanations for RL policies. The architecture with five specialized LLM agents (Coordinator, Explainer, Coder, Evaluator, and Debugger) enables TalkToAgent to automatically map user queries to relevant XRL tools and clarify an agent's actions in terms of either key state variables, expected outcomes, or counterfactual explanations. Moreover, our approach extends previous counterfactual explanations by deriving alternative scenarios from qualitative behavioral descriptions, or even new rule-based policies. We validated TalkToAgent on quadruple-tank process control problem, a well-known nonlinear control benchmark. Results demonstrated that TalkToAgent successfully mapped user queries into XRL tasks with high accuracy, and coder-debugger interactions minimized failures in counterfactual generation. Furthermore, qualitative evaluation confirmed that TalkToAgent effectively interpreted agent's actions and contextualized their meaning within the problem domain.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_04809
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle TalkToAgent: A Human-centric Explanation of Reinforcement Learning Agents with Large Language Models
Kim, Haechang
Chen, Hao
Li, Can
Lee, Jong Min
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
Explainable Reinforcement Learning (XRL) has emerged as a promising approach in improving the transparency of Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents. However, there remains a gap between complex RL policies and domain experts, due to the limited comprehensibility of XRL results and isolated coverage of current XRL approaches that leave users uncertain about which tools to employ. To address these challenges, we introduce TalkToAgent, a multi-agent Large Language Models (LLM) framework that delivers interactive, natural language explanations for RL policies. The architecture with five specialized LLM agents (Coordinator, Explainer, Coder, Evaluator, and Debugger) enables TalkToAgent to automatically map user queries to relevant XRL tools and clarify an agent's actions in terms of either key state variables, expected outcomes, or counterfactual explanations. Moreover, our approach extends previous counterfactual explanations by deriving alternative scenarios from qualitative behavioral descriptions, or even new rule-based policies. We validated TalkToAgent on quadruple-tank process control problem, a well-known nonlinear control benchmark. Results demonstrated that TalkToAgent successfully mapped user queries into XRL tasks with high accuracy, and coder-debugger interactions minimized failures in counterfactual generation. Furthermore, qualitative evaluation confirmed that TalkToAgent effectively interpreted agent's actions and contextualized their meaning within the problem domain.
title TalkToAgent: A Human-centric Explanation of Reinforcement Learning Agents with Large Language Models
topic Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04809