ConSteer-RL: Steering Reasoning Capabilities in Large Language Models via Confidence-Aware Reinforcement Learning

Abstract:Reinforcement Learning from Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) has recently become a key paradigm for improving the reasoning abilities of Large Language Models (LLMs), yet it remains limited by sparse binary rewards and its ignorance of model-internal uncertainty. In this paper, we propose ConSteer-RL, a simple yet effective framework that integrates token-level confidence signals derived from model log-probabilities into RLVR training. Specifically, building upon the Group Relative Policy Optimization (GRPO) framework, we construct a confidence-aware reward by aggregating per-token probabilities into a scalar confidence score and incorporating it into an awareness-based reward shaping mechanism that penalizes overconfident errors while reinforcing correct and confident reasoning. Experimental results demonstrate that ConSteer-RL consistently outperforms strong GRPO baselines, achieving average improvements of 2.3%-4.0% across different model scales.

Machine Learning (cs.LG); Computation and Language (cs.CL)

arXiv:2606.08088 [cs.LG]

(or arXiv:2606.08088v1 [cs.LG] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.08088 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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