SP3O: Reinforcement Learning from Segment Preferences without Reward Modeling

arXiv:2608.02951v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Preference-based reinforcement learning (PbRL) for general stochastic MDPs often requires training a reward model. Existing reward-model-free methods are either restricted to bandits or deterministic MDPs, such as DPO or P3O, or use zeroth-order, gradient-free optimization, which in general exhibits a slower convergence rate than gradient-based algorithms. Furthermore, existing reward-model-free preference-based RL algorithms almost exclusively use trajectory-level feedback, which can require significant effort from a human evaluator when trajectories are long. On the other hand, segments are much shorter, so they are easier to compare and evaluate. In this paper, we introduce a novel reward-model-free, critic-free, and gradient-based PbRL algorithm compatible with segment preferences named Segment Pairwise Proximal Policy Optimization (SP3O). SP3O utilizes segment-level preference feedback to construct an accurate policy value difference estimator via off-policy importance sampling, and then uses the estimator to compute the policy gradient via a PPO-type loss function. We provide a theoretical basis for the algorithm and analyze the tradeoff in choosing the segment length. We also evaluate it experimentally against other PbRL/RLHF algorithms in robotic control and LLM finetuning settings to show its improved performance, especially in long-horizon tasks.

Abstract:Preference-based reinforcement learning (PbRL) for general stochastic MDPs often requires training a reward model. Existing reward-model-free methods are either restricted to bandits or deterministic MDPs, such as DPO or P3O, or use zeroth-order, gradient-free optimization, which in general exhibits a slower convergence rate than gradient-based algorithms. Furthermore, existing reward-model-free preference-based RL algorithms almost exclusively use trajectory-level feedback, which can require significant effort from a human evaluator when trajectories are long. On the other hand, segments are much shorter, so they are easier to compare and evaluate. In this paper, we introduce a novel reward-model-free, critic-free, and gradient-based PbRL algorithm compatible with segment preferences named Segment Pairwise Proximal Policy Optimization (SP3O). SP3O utilizes segment-level preference feedback to construct an accurate policy value difference estimator via off-policy importance sampling, and then uses the estimator to compute the policy gradient via a PPO-type loss function. We provide a theoretical basis for the algorithm and analyze the tradeoff in choosing the segment length. We also evaluate it experimentally against other PbRL/RLHF algorithms in robotic control and LLM finetuning settings to show its improved performance, especially in long-horizon tasks.

Machine Learning (cs.LG); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)

arXiv:2608.02951 [cs.LG]

(or arXiv:2608.02951v1 [cs.LG] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.02951 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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SP3O: Reinforcement Learning from Segment Preferences without Reward Modeling

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