arXiv:2608. 16707v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed as decision-making agents in settings that require sophisticated environmental exploration.
By David Eric Austin, Kaheer Suleman, Jackie Chi Kit Cheung
The paper introduces EXPO, an algorithm that automatically optimizes the meta-prompt—specifically the task description and meta-instruction—for large language model agents in sequential decision-making tasks such as Bayesian optimization and multi-armed bandits. Building on adversarial bandit techniques to handle non-stationary rewards, the authors extend EXPO to EXPO-ES, which also optimizes exemplars (historical interactions) within the meta-prompt. Experiments demonstrate that these methods significantly improve the performance of LLM-based agents in sequential decision-making scenarios.
By Mingze Kong, Zhiyong Wang, Yao Shu, Zhongxiang Dai
arXiv:2608. 09805v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Exploration has been a focus of reinforcement learning research for a long time.
By Vatsal Venkatkrishna, Nico Daheim, Iryna Gurevych
arXiv:2607.28077v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: Reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR) improves the reasoning capabilities of large language models, but prompt groups with identica...
By Shuang Liang, Haoyang Zhou, Yifan Gong, Guowei Wang, Xiting Wang
Reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR) improves the reasoning capabilities of large language models, but prompt groups with identical rollout rewards consume generation budget without effective learning signals. Pre-rollout prompt selection can reduce this waste by screening prompts before rollout generation.
arXiv:2601. 21754v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: While Large Language Models (LLMs) excel in language-based agentic tasks, their applicability to unseen, nonlinguistic environments (e.
By Haoyu Wang, Guozheng Ma, Shugang Cui, Yilun Kong, Haotian Luo, Li Shen, Mengya Gao, Yichao Wu, Xiaogang Wang, Dacheng Tao
arXiv:2510.15047v2 Announce Type: replace-cross
Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) as agents often fail to improve in new environments. We identify and characterize a failure mode we call explora...
By Shiqi Chen, Tongyao Zhu, Zian Wang, Jinghan Zhang, Kangrui Wang, Ruochen Zhou, Siyang Gao, Teng Xiao, Yee Whye Teh, Junxian He, Manling Li
arXiv:2410. 02511v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: With expansive state-action spaces, efficient multi-agent exploration remains a longstanding challenge in reinforcement learning.
By Yun Qu, Boyuan Wang, Yuhang Jiang, Jianzhun Shao, Yixiu Mao, Heming Zou, Chang Liu, Cheems Wang, Meiqin Liu, Xiangyang Ji
StraTA introduces Strategic Trajectory Abstraction, a framework that samples a compact strategy from the initial task state and conditions subsequent actions on that strategy, training strategy generation and action execution jointly with a hierarchical GRPO-style rollout design. The method enhances exploration and credit assignment over long horizons by incorporating diverse strategy rollouts and critical self-judgment. Experiments on ALFWorld, WebShop, and SciWorld demonstrate that StraTA consistently improves sample efficiency and final performance, achieving success rates of 93.1% on ALFWorld, 84.2% on WebShop, and a 63.5% overall score on SciWorld, surpassing frontier closed‑source models.
By Xiangyuan Xue, Yifan Zhou, Zidong Wang, Shengji Tang, Philip Torr, Wanli Ouyang, Lei Bai, Zhenfei Yin
arXiv:2607. 08837v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Exploration is essential to RL since a policy cannot improve by repeatedly sampling the behaviors it already prefers.
By Sunshine Jiang, John Marangola, David Zhang, Raghuram Kowdeed, Ruiyang Luo, Nitish Dashora, Richard Li, Pulkit Agrawal, Zhang-Wei Hong
arXiv:2510. 11686v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) promises to expand the capabilities of language models, but it is unclear if current RL techniques promote the discovery of novel behaviors, or simply sharpen those already present in the base model.
By Jens Tuyls, Dylan J. Foster, Akshay Krishnamurthy, Jordan T. Ash
arXiv:2606. 27136v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: For LLM agents in multi-step interactive environments, a key challenge is to make effective use of accumulated interaction experience.
By Shicheng Ye, Chao Yu