about
Automating LLM Development with LLMs (arxiv.org)
1 point by __tuxi__ on Nov 22, 2024 | hide | past | pdf | 1 comment on HN

In plain words: A model writes code for new ways to combine specialized models, tests each recipe, and learns from the winners to keep improving its own upgrade tricks. Its self-invented recipes beat human-designed ones, lifting math problem accuracy by 6% and also working on other models.

Abstract · Can Large Language Models Invent Algorithms to Improve Themselves?: Algorithm Discovery for Recursive Self-Improvement through Reinforcement Learning

Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable capabilities, yet their improvement methods remain fundamentally constrained by human design. We present Self-Developing, a framework that enables LLMs to autonomously discover, implement, and refine their own improvement algorithms. Our approach employs an iterative cycle where a seed model generates algorithmic candidates as executable code, evaluates their effectiveness, and uses Direct Preference Optimization to recursively improve increasingly sophisticated improvement strategies. We demonstrate this framework through model merging, a practical technique for combining specialized models. Self-Developing successfully discovered novel merging algorithms that outperform existing human-designed algorithms. On mathematical reasoning benchmarks, the autonomously discovered algorithms improve the seed model's GSM8k performance by 6\% and exceed human-designed approaches like Task Arithmetic by 4.3\%. Remarkably, these algorithms exhibit strong generalization, achieving 7.4\% gains on out-of-domain models without re-optimization. Our findings demonstrate that LLMs can transcend their training to invent genuinely novel optimization techniques. This capability represents a crucial step toward a new era where LLMs not only solve problems but autonomously develop the methodologies for their own advancement.

Yoichi Ishibashi, Taro Yano, Masafumi Oyamada
arXiv:2410.15639 · cs.CL · submitted Oct 21, 2024 · updated Jun 10, 2025
abstract · pdf · html · Accepted at NAACL 2025 (main)

add comment on HN

Article title: Can Large Language Models Invent Algorithms to Improve Themselves?