Embed-RL: Reinforcement Learning for Reasoning-Driven Multimodal Embeddings

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Jiang, Haonan, Wang, Yuji, Zhu, Yongjie, Lu, Xin, Qin, Wenyu, Wang, Meng, Wan, Pengfei, Tang, Yansong
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Jiang, Haonan
Wang, Yuji
Zhu, Yongjie
Lu, Xin
Qin, Wenyu
Wang, Meng
Wan, Pengfei
Tang, Yansong
author_facet Jiang, Haonan
Wang, Yuji
Zhu, Yongjie
Lu, Xin
Qin, Wenyu
Wang, Meng
Wan, Pengfei
Tang, Yansong
contents Leveraging Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) has become pivotal for advancing Universal Multimodal Embeddings (UME) in addressing diverse cross-modal tasks. Recent studies demonstrate that incorporating generative Chain-of-Thought (CoT) reasoning can substantially enhance task-specific representations compared to discriminative methods. However, the generated reasoning CoTs of existing generative embedding methods are limited to the textual analysis of queries and are irrelevant to the retrieval of the targets. To address these limitations, we propose a reasoning-driven UME framework that integrates Embedder-Guided Reinforcement Learning (EG-RL) to optimize the Reasoner to produce evidential Traceability CoT (T-CoT). Our key contributions are threefold: (1) We design an EG-RL framework where the Embedder provides explicit supervision to the Reasoner, ensuring the generated CoT traces are aligned with embedding tasks. (2) We introduce T-CoT, which extracts critical multimodal cues to focus on retrieval-relevant elements and provides multimodal inputs for the Embedder. (3) With limited computational resources, our framework outperforms the pioneering embedding model on both MMEB-V2 and UVRB benchmarks. The integration of multimodal evidence in structured reasoning, paired with retrieval-oriented alignment, effectively strengthens cross-modal semantic consistency and boosts the fine-grained matching capability of the model as well as the generalization across complex scenarios. Our work demonstrates that targeted reasoning optimization can significantly improve multimodal embedding quality, providing a practical and efficient solution for reasoning-driven UME development.
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publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Embed-RL: Reinforcement Learning for Reasoning-Driven Multimodal Embeddings
Jiang, Haonan
Wang, Yuji
Zhu, Yongjie
Lu, Xin
Qin, Wenyu
Wang, Meng
Wan, Pengfei
Tang, Yansong
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Leveraging Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) has become pivotal for advancing Universal Multimodal Embeddings (UME) in addressing diverse cross-modal tasks. Recent studies demonstrate that incorporating generative Chain-of-Thought (CoT) reasoning can substantially enhance task-specific representations compared to discriminative methods. However, the generated reasoning CoTs of existing generative embedding methods are limited to the textual analysis of queries and are irrelevant to the retrieval of the targets. To address these limitations, we propose a reasoning-driven UME framework that integrates Embedder-Guided Reinforcement Learning (EG-RL) to optimize the Reasoner to produce evidential Traceability CoT (T-CoT). Our key contributions are threefold: (1) We design an EG-RL framework where the Embedder provides explicit supervision to the Reasoner, ensuring the generated CoT traces are aligned with embedding tasks. (2) We introduce T-CoT, which extracts critical multimodal cues to focus on retrieval-relevant elements and provides multimodal inputs for the Embedder. (3) With limited computational resources, our framework outperforms the pioneering embedding model on both MMEB-V2 and UVRB benchmarks. The integration of multimodal evidence in structured reasoning, paired with retrieval-oriented alignment, effectively strengthens cross-modal semantic consistency and boosts the fine-grained matching capability of the model as well as the generalization across complex scenarios. Our work demonstrates that targeted reasoning optimization can significantly improve multimodal embedding quality, providing a practical and efficient solution for reasoning-driven UME development.
title Embed-RL: Reinforcement Learning for Reasoning-Driven Multimodal Embeddings
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13823