arXiv Machine Learning

Amortizing intractable inference in large language models

arXiv AI
4d ago

Scalable Power Sampling: Unlocking Efficient, Training-Free Reasoning for LLMs via Distribution Sharpening

The paper introduces Scalable Power Sampling, a training‑free method that sharpens a large language model’s generative distribution by approximating the autoregressive power distribution with a token‑level scaled low‑temperature distribution. This approach eliminates the need for iterative Markov chain Monte Carlo, achieving performance comparable to or better than one‑shot GRPO on math, QA, and code tasks while cutting inference latency by more than tenfold. The method relies solely on the base model’s outputs, requiring no external rewards or verifiers.

By Xiaotong Ji, Rasul Tutunov, Matthieu Zimmer, Haitham Bou Ammar
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 14

Sampling via Decision-Flow: Training-Free Extraction of Improved Latent Reasoning Paths in Large Language Models

The paper introduces Decision-Flow Sampling (DF‑Sample), a training‑free, data‑free inference framework that builds a hierarchical reasoning tree, evaluates entire trajectories, and back‑propagates utilities to guide branching decisions. Unlike local step‑wise sampling, DF‑Sample explicitly assesses global paths, enabling it to recover high‑quality, low‑probability reasoning chains that standard decoding misses. On the GPQA benchmark, DF‑Sample attains 45.6% accuracy, outperforming power sampling (38.9%) and GRPO (39.9%) and consistently surpassing baselines across multiple models and benchmarks, demonstrating significant latent reasoning potential in pretrained LLMs.

By Zhendong Mi, Shaoyi Huang
arXiv AI
3d ago

Generative Recursive Reasoning

Generative Recursive Reasoning (GRAM) extends Recursive Reasoning Models by introducing probabilistic multi‑trajectory computation, allowing neural reasoning systems to explore multiple latent trajectories instead of a single deterministic path. GRAM treats reasoning as a stochastic latent trajectory, enabling multiple hypotheses, alternative solution strategies, and scalable inference through recursive depth and parallel sampling. Trained via amortized variational inference, GRAM outperforms deterministic recurrent and recursive baselines on structured reasoning and multi‑solution constraint satisfaction tasks, and also supports unconditional generation.

By Junyeob Baek, Mingyu Jo, Minsu Kim, Mengye Ren, Yoshua Bengio, Sungjin Ahn
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 1

Delta-AI: Local objectives for amortized inference in sparse graphical models

arXiv:2310.02423v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We present a new algorithm for amortized inference in sparse probabilistic graphical models (PGMs), which we call $\Delta$-amortized inference ($\D...

By Jean-Pierre Falet, Hae Beom Lee, Esmeralda S. Whitammer, Chen Sun, Dragos Secrieru, Thomas Jiralerspong, Dinghuai Zhang, Guillaume Lajoie, Yoshua Bengio
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 18

Structured Inference with Large Language Gibbs

arXiv:2606. 19264v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The knowledge encoded in large language models (LLMs) can serve as a substrate for structured reasoning over variables describing a complex world, but accessing this knowledge in a probabilistically coherent manner poses a difficult inference problem.

By Sanghyeok Choi, Henry Gouk, Esmeralda S. Whitammer
arXiv Machine Learning
4d ago

Tree-Structured Synergy of Large Language Models and Bayesian Optimization for Efficient CASH

The paper introduces LB-MCTS, a trajectory-structured optimization framework that combines Monte Carlo Tree Search, Bayesian Optimization, and Large Language Models to address the CASH problem in AutoML. It uses a shared tree state for algorithm selection, hyperparameter refinement, and synergy between BO and LLM proposals, with a reliability-aware policy that shifts from LLM-driven to BO-driven suggestions as the surrogate model improves. Experiments on 104 AMLB datasets show that LB-MCTS consistently outperforms existing BO-based, LLM-based, and hybrid baselines.

By Beicheng Xu, Weitong Qian, Lingching Tung, Yupeng Lu, Bin Cui
arXiv AI
Jun 15

Deep Dense Exploration for LLM Reinforcement Learning via Pivot-Driven Resampling

arXiv:2602. 14169v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Effective exploration is a key challenge in reinforcement learning for large language models: discovering high-quality trajectories within a limited sampling budget from the vast natural language sequence space.

By Yiran Guo, Zhongjian Qiao, Yingqi Xie, Jie Liu, Dan Ye, Ruiqing Zhang, Shuang Qiu, Lijie Xu
arXiv AI
Oct 2

Your Language Model is Its Own Critic: Reinforcement Learning with Value Estimation from Actor's Internal States

The paper introduces POISE, a reinforcement learning algorithm that uses a model’s internal states as a value estimator to reduce variance in reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR). By employing a lightweight probe that reads internal signals during the forward pass, POISE predicts baselines online and uses a cross‑rollout construction to keep gradients unbiased. Experiments on Qwen3‑4B and OLMo3‑7B‑Instruct‑DPO across six domains show POISE outperforms existing RLVR baselines, offering more stable training and a value model that generalizes across tasks and scales with the policy.

By Yunho Choi, Jongwon Lim, Woojin Ahn, Minjae Oh, Jeonghoon Shim, Yohan Jo