mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

TAGRPO: Boosting GRPO on Image-to-Video Generation with Direct Trajectory Alignment

arXiv 2601.05729 ↗First posted 9 Jan 2026cs.CVcited by 10

On the map: LLM reasoning → Reinforcement learning for reasoning

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Abstract (arXiv)

Recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of integrating Group Relative Policy Optimization (GRPO) into flow matching models, particularly for text-to-image and text-to-video generation. However, we find that directly applying these techniques to image-to-video (I2V) models often fails to yield consistent reward improvements. To address this limitation, we present TAGRPO, a robust post-training framework for I2V models inspired by contrastive learning. Our approach is grounded in the observation that rollout videos generated from identical initial noise provide superior guidance for optimization. Leveraging this insight, we propose a novel GRPO loss applied to intermediate latents, encouraging direct alignment with high-reward trajectories while maximizing distance from low-reward counterparts. Furthermore, we introduce a memory bank for rollout videos to enhance diversity and reduce computational overhead. Despite its simplicity, TAGRPO achieves significant improvements over DanceGRPO in I2V generation. The deliverables will be updated at https://tagrpo.github.io/ .

Key facts. Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Reinforcement learning for reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 62 of its 70 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Jan 2026.

Builds on

62 of 70 references.

Closest ancestors · 4

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025TempFlow-GRPO: When Timing Matters for GRPO in Flow Models6 Aug
  2. 2025DanceGRPO: Unleashing GRPO on Visual Generation12 May
  3. 2025Flow-GRPO: Training Flow Matching Models via Online RL8 May
  4. 2023Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Model29 May

Other references · 58

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  2. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 21,076
  3. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,863
  4. 2018The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metriccited by 11,177
  5. 2024DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Modelscited by 9,379
  6. 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,122
  7. 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,255
  8. 2019Momentum Contrast for Unsupervised Visual Representation Learningcited by 7,513
  9. 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 6,054
  10. 2022Flow Matching for Generative Modelingcited by 5,702
  11. 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,181
  12. 2022Flow Straight and Fast: Learning to Generate and Transfer Data with Rectified Flowcited by 3,700
38 more
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  3. 2022Video Diffusion Modelscited by 2,305
  4. 2024CogVideoX: Text-to-Video Diffusion Models with An Expert Transformercited by 2,261
  5. 2024HunyuanVideo: A Systematic Framework For Large Video Generative Modelscited by 1,660
  6. 2023ImageReward: Learning and Evaluating Human Preferences for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 1,045
  7. 2023Diffusion Model Alignment Using Direct Preference Optimizationcited by 790
  8. 2023Animate Anyone: Consistent and Controllable Image-to-Video Synthesis for Character Animationcited by 688
  9. 2024Open-Sora: Democratizing Efficient Video Production for Allcited by 652
  10. 2023VideoCrafter1: Open Diffusion Models for High-Quality Video Generationcited by 535
  11. 2023DynamiCrafter: Animating Open-domain Images with Video Diffusion Priorscited by 471
  12. 2023VideoComposer: Compositional Video Synthesis with Motion Controllabilitycited by 464
  13. 2023Directly Fine-Tuning Diffusion Models on Differentiable Rewardscited by 448
  14. 2024Panda-70M: Captioning 70M Videos with Multiple Cross-Modality Teacherscited by 393
  15. 2023I2VGen-XL: High-Quality Image-to-Video Synthesis via Cascaded Diffusion Modelscited by 350
  16. 2022MCVD: Masked Conditional Video Diffusion for Prediction, Generation, and Interpolationcited by 309
  17. 2024Open-Sora Plan: Open-Source Large Video Generation Modelcited by 296
  18. 2023Aligning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Reward Backpropagationcited by 288
  19. 2025Seedance 1.0: Exploring the Boundaries of Video Generation Modelscited by 259
  20. 2023Using Human Feedback to Fine-tune Diffusion Models without Any Reward Modelcited by 252
  21. 2023SEINE: Short-to-Long Video Diffusion Model for Generative Transition and Predictioncited by 233
  22. 2025DiffusionNFT: Online Diffusion Reinforcement with Forward Processcited by 230
  23. 2025SkyReels-V2: Infinite-length Film Generative Modelcited by 229
  24. 2024Motion-I2V: Consistent and Controllable Image-to-Video Generation with Explicit Motion Modelingcited by 211
  25. 2025HPSv3: Towards Wide-Spectrum Human Preference Scorecited by 211
  26. 2025MixGRPO: Unlocking Flow-based GRPO Efficiency with Mixed ODE-SDEcited by 178
  27. 2025HunyuanVideo 1.5 Technical Reportcited by 160
  28. 2023Make Pixels Dance: High-Dynamic Video Generationcited by 140
  29. 2024VidProM: A Million-scale Real Prompt-Gallery Dataset for Text-to-Video Diffusion Modelscited by 131
  30. 2024VideoDPO: Omni-Preference Alignment for Video Diffusion Generationcited by 108
  31. 2024Video Diffusion Alignment via Reward Gradientscited by 107
  32. 2024Self-Play Fine-Tuning of Diffusion Models for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 85
  33. 2024Aesthetic Post-Training Diffusion Models from Generic Preferences with Step-by-step Preference Optimizationcited by 84
  34. 2025Uniworld-V2: Reinforce Image Editing with Diffusion Negative-aware Finetuning and MLLM Implicit Feedbackcited by 79
  35. 2023I2V-Adapter: A General Image-to-Video Adapter for Diffusion Modelscited by 70
  36. 2025Advantage Weighted Matching: Aligning RL with Pretraining in Diffusion Modelscited by 67
  37. 2025BranchGRPO: Stable and Efficient GRPO with Structured Branching in Diffusion Modelscited by 61
  38. 2024Improving Dynamic Object Interactions in Text-to-Video Generation with AI Feedbackcited by 47

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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 10.

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  1. 2025Neighbor GRPO: Contrastive ODE Policy Optimization Aligns Flow Models
  2. 2026OP-GRPO: Efficient Off-Policy GRPO for Flow-Matching Models
  3. 2025Anchoring Values in Temporal and Group Dimensions for Flow Matching Model Alignment
  4. 2026Flash-GRPO: Efficient Alignment for Video Diffusion via One-Step Policy Optimization
  5. 2025Rethinking Reward Signals in Video GRPO: When Scores Become Targets
  6. 2026From Sparse to Dense: Multi-View GRPO for Flow Models via Augmented Condition Space
  7. 2026Alleviating Sparse Rewards by Modeling Step-Wise and Long-Term Sampling Effects in Flow-Based GRPO
  8. 2025Multi-GRPO: Multi-Group Advantage Estimation for Text-to-Image Generation with Tree-Based Trajectories and Multiple Rewards