# VIRAL: Vision-grounded Integration for Reward design And Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.22092 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.22092/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Reward modeling and RLHF, one of 10 directions in LLM alignment / RLHF / preference optimisation.
- Builds on 21 of its 27 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 May 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM alignment / RLHF / preference optimisation / [Reward modeling and RLHF](https://mlsanity.com/alignment/reward-modeling-and-rlhf/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06347/) (2017)
- [Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08485/) (2023)
- [DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12948/) (2025)
- [Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12191/) (2024)
- [Deep reinforcement learning from human preferences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03741/) (2017)
- [Playing Atari with Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.5602/) (2013)
- [Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01691/) (2022)
- [Qwen2 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10671/) (2024)
- [Video-LLaVA: Learning United Visual Representation by Alignment Before Projection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.10122/) (2023)
- [Qwen2.5-Coder Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12186/) (2024)
- [ProgPrompt: Generating Situated Robot Task Plans using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11302/) (2022)
- [Eureka: Human-Level Reward Design via Coding Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.12931/) (2023)
- [Reward learning from human preferences and demonstrations in Atari](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.06521/) (2018)
- [PEBBLE: Feedback-Efficient Interactive Reinforcement Learning via Relabeling Experience and Unsupervised Pre-training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05091/) (2021)
- [Reward Design with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00001/) (2023)
- [Text2Reward: Reward Shaping with Language Models for Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.11489/) (2023)
- [Take a Step Back: Evoking Reasoning via Abstraction in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06117/) (2023)
- [Using Natural Language for Reward Shaping in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.02020/) (2019)
- [SURF: Semi-supervised Reward Learning with Data Augmentation for Feedback-efficient Preference-based Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10050/) (2022)
- [Self-Refined Large Language Model as Automated Reward Function Designer for Deep Reinforcement Learning in Robotics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06687/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Multimodal LLM-assisted Evolutionary Search for Programmatic Control Policies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.05433/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The alignment between humans and machines is a critical challenge in artificial intelligence today. Reinforcement learning, which aims to maximize a reward function, is particularly vulnerable to the risks associated with poorly designed reward functions. Recent advancements has shown that Large Language Models (LLMs) for reward generation can outperform human performance in this context. We introduce VIRAL, a pipeline for generating and refining reward functions through the use of multi-modal LLMs. VIRAL autonomously creates and interactively improves reward functions based on a given environment and a goal prompt or annotated image. The refinement process can incorporate human feedback or be guided by a description generated by a video LLM, which explains the agent's policy in video form. We evaluated VIRAL in five Gymnasium environments, demonstrating that it accelerates the learning of new behaviors while ensuring improved alignment with user intent. The source-code and demo video are available at: https://github.com/VIRAL-UCBL1/VIRAL and https://youtu.be/Hqo82CxVT38.