Think Only When You Need with Large Hybrid-Reasoning Models

Lingjie Jiang, Xun Wu, Shaohan Huang, Qingxiu Dong, Zewen Chi, Li Dong, Xingxing Zhang, Tengchao Lv, Lei Cui, Furu Wei

Keywords: Hybrid Reasoning, Large Reasoning Models, Reinforcement Learning

Abstract: Recent Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) have shown substantially improved reasoning capabilities over traditional Large Language Models (LLMs) by incorporating extended thinking processes prior to producing final responses. However, excessively lengthy thinking introduces substantial overhead in terms of token consumption and latency, which is unnecessary for simple queries. In this work, we introduce Large Hybrid-Reasoning Models (LHRMs), the first kind of model capable of adaptively determining whether to perform reasoning based on the contextual information of user queries. To achieve this, we propose a two-stage training pipeline comprising Hybrid Fine-Tuning (HFT) as a cold start, followed by online reinforcement learning with the proposed Hybrid Group Policy Optimization (HGPO) to implicitly learn to select the appropriate reasoning mode. Furthermore, we introduce a metric called Hybrid Accuracy to quantitatively assess the model’s capability for hybrid reasoning. Extensive experimental results show that LHRMs can adaptively perform hybrid reasoning on queries of varying difficulty and type. It outperforms existing LRMs and LLMs in reasoning and general capabilities while significantly improving efficiency. Together, our work advocates for a reconsideration of the appropriate use of extended reasoning processes and provides a solid starting point for building hybrid reasoning systems.

Primary Area: Deep learning (e.g., architectures, generative models, optimization for deep networks, foundation models, LLMs)

Submission Number: 12181