LLMs Can Plan Only If We Tell Them

ICLR 2025 Conference Submission12359 Authors

Keywords: large language models, decision-making, planning

TL;DR: Investigating what enables autonomous planning in large language models

Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated significant capabilities in natural language processing and reasoning, yet their effectiveness in autonomous planning has been under debate. While existing studies have utilized LLMs with external feedback mechanisms or in controlled environments for planning, these approaches often involve substantial computational and development resources due to the requirement for careful design and iterative backprompting. Moreover, even the most advanced LLMs like GPT-4 struggle to match human performance on standard planning benchmarks, such as the Blocksworld, without additional support. This paper investigates whether LLMs can independently generate long-horizon plans that rival human baselines. Our novel enhancements help achieve state-of-the-art results in planning benchmarks out-competing prior methods and human baselines all autonomously.

Primary Area: foundation or frontier models, including LLMs

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Submission Number: 12359