Exploratory Preference Optimization: Provably Sample-Efficient Exploration in RLHF with General Function Approximation

ICLR 2025 Conference Submission8265 Authors

Keywords: Learning theory, Reinforcement learning theory, Sample-efficient reinforcement learning

TL;DR: We study the theory of online exploration with preference feedback and general function approximation, and propose a new algorithm—Exploratory Preference Optimization (XPO)—which is elegantly simple yet enjoys the strongest known provable guarantees.

Abstract: This paper investigates a basic question in reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) from a theoretical perspective: how to efficiently explore in an online manner under preference feedback and general function approximation. We take the initial step towards a theoretical understanding of this problem by proposing a novel algorithm, *Exploratory Preference Optimization* (XPO). This algorithm is elegantly simple---requiring only a one-line modification to (online) Direct Preference Optimization (DPO; Rafailov et al., 2023)---yet provides the strongest known provable guarantees. XPO augments the DPO objective with a novel and principled *exploration bonus*, enabling the algorithm to strategically explore beyond the support of the initial model and preference feedback data. We prove that XPO is provably sample-efficient and converges to a near-optimal policy under natural exploration conditions, regardless of the initial model's coverage. Our analysis builds on the observation that DPO implicitly performs a form of *Bellman error minimization*. It synthesizes previously disparate techniques from language modeling and theoretical reinforcement learning in a serendipitous fashion through the lens of *KL-regularized Markov decision processes*.

Primary Area: learning theory

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Submission Number: 8265