Model alignment · 2022 · Long Ouyang et al.

Training Language Models to Follow Instructions with Human Feedback

Separate pretraining capability from assistant behavior using demonstrations, a learned preference model, and constrained reinforcement learning.

The central move

Separate pretraining capability from assistant behavior using demonstrations, a learned preference model, and constrained reinforcement learning.

Why it had to exist

Next-token prediction produces broad capability but does not reliably optimize helpful instruction following, truthfulness, or harmless behavior for a user-facing assistant.

Where it leads

Pretraining → demonstrations and preference learning → assistant post-training, safety evaluation, and governance.

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