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Essay

Consequences of Omitting a Reference Policy in RLHF

Imagine a team is training a large language model using a reinforcement learning process. They have a reward model that accurately scores outputs for helpfulness. However, they decide to optimize their active policy to maximize this reward directly, without comparing it to a fixed, initial version of the model. Analyze the potential negative consequences of this approach. Describe at least two distinct undesirable behaviors the final model might exhibit and explain why these behaviors could arise in the absence of this comparison.

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Updated 2025-10-07

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