aiqbench analysis
This research addresses the instability in parallel reasoning within Large Language Models by introducing Parallel Shapley, a framework that uses cooperative game theory to attribute rewards at the individual path level. By distinguishing between beneficial and detrimental reasoning trajectories during reinforcement learning training, the method resolves ambiguous signals caused by uniform outcome-based feedback. The approach demonstrates improved stability and interpretability on mathematical benchmarks, offering a more efficient mechanism for optimizing multi-path inference in LLMs.
Fishing Out Free Riders: Shapley-Based Reward Attribution for Parallel Reasoning via Reinforcement Learning
arXiv:2607.18979v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at multi-step reasoning, yet current parallel reasoning approaches often fail to distinguish the contributions of individual reasoning paths. Many paths may be redundant, misleading, or even detrimental, but outcome-level rewards assign uniform reward, leading to ambiguous learning signals and unstable training. We propose Parallel Shapley, a reinforcement learning framework that attributes fine-grained, path-level contributions in multi-path reasoning. Treating each path as a player in a cooperative game, we leverage Shapley values to quantify marginal contributions, using a generative reward model to evaluate path utilities and Monte Carlo sampling for efficient approximation. Experiments on mathematical reasoning benchmarks show that Parallel Shapley outperforms existing baselines while providing more stable and interpretable training. Our framework effectively "fishes out the free riders," assigning reward proportionally and improving multi-path reasoning in LLMs.
Abstract:Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at multi-step reasoning, yet current parallel reasoning approaches often fail to distinguish the contributions of individual reasoning paths. Many paths may be redundant, misleading, or even detrimental, but outcome-level rewards assign uniform reward, leading to ambiguous learning signals and unstable training. We propose Parallel Shapley, a reinforcement learning framework that attributes fine-grained, path-level contributions in multi-path reasoning. Treating each path as a player in a cooperative game, we leverage Shapley values to quantify marginal contributions, using a generative reward model to evaluate path utilities and Monte Carlo sampling for efficient approximation. Experiments on mathematical reasoning benchmarks show that Parallel Shapley outperforms existing baselines while providing more stable and interpretable training. Our framework effectively "fishes out the free riders," assigning reward proportionally and improving multi-path reasoning in LLMs.
Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
arXiv:2607.18979 [cs.AI]
(or arXiv:2607.18979v1 [cs.AI] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.18979 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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