Reinforcement Learning for Large Language Models via Group Preference Reward Shaping

Large Language Models (LLMs) require alignment via reinforcement learning (RL) to effectively perform task-specific objectives, such as human preference alignment and enhanced reasoning. While Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) is widely adopted, its computational overhead, stemming from additional value model requirements, limits applicability. Existing alternatives, like Group Relative Policy Optimization (GRPO), mitigate computational costs but remain sensitive to reward model quality. To address this, we introduce Group Preference Reward Shaping (GPRS), a novel method that leverages preference-based comparisons rather than precise numerical rewards. GPRS requires no extra model components and remains robust across varying reward model sizes and qualities. Extensive experiments demonstrate that GPRS consistently outperforms existing critic-model-free RL algorithms in Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) and reasoning tasks, providing stable and good alignment performance.