mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

ImageEdit-R1: Boosting Multi-Agent Image Editing via Reinforcement Learning

arXiv 2603.08059 ↗First posted 9 Mar 2026cs.CV cs.AIcited by 4

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Abstract (arXiv)

With the rapid advancement of commercial multi-modal models, image editing has garnered significant attention due to its widespread applicability in daily life. Despite impressive progress, existing image editing systems, particularly closed-source or proprietary models, often struggle with complex, indirect, or multi-step user instructions. These limitations hinder their ability to perform nuanced, context-aware edits that align with human intent. In this work, we propose ImageEdit-R1, a multi-agent framework for intelligent image editing that leverages reinforcement learning to coordinate high-level decision-making across a set of specialized, pretrained vision-language and generative agents. Each agent is responsible for distinct capabilities--such as understanding user intent, identifying regions of interest, selecting appropriate editing actions, and synthesizing visual content--while reinforcement learning governs their collaboration to ensure coherent and goal-directed behavior. Unlike existing approaches that rely on monolithic models or hand-crafted pipelines, our method treats image editing as a sequential decision-making problem, enabling dynamic and context-aware editing strategies. Experimental results demonstrate that ImageEdit-R1 consistently outperforms both individual closed-source diffusion models and alternative multi-agent framework baselines across multiple image editing datasets.

Key facts. Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 23 of its 37 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Mar 2026.

Builds on

23 of 37 references.

References · 23

  1. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
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11 more
  1. 2023Training Diffusion Models with Reinforcement Learningcited by 939
  2. 2020In-Domain GAN Inversion for Real Image Editingcited by 420
  3. 2024UltraEdit: Instruction-based Fine-Grained Image Editing at Scalecited by 266
  4. 2022A Survey on Generative Diffusion Modelcited by 238
  5. 2025In-Context Edit: Enabling Instructional Image Editing with In-Context Generation in Large Scale Diffusion Transformercited by 199
  6. 2023InstructEdit: Improving Automatic Masks for Diffusion-based Image Editing With User Instructionscited by 64
  7. 2024SeedEdit: Align Image Re-Generation to Image Editingcited by 60
  8. 2024Multi-Reward as Condition for Instruction-based Image Editingcited by 20
  9. 2025REALEDIT: Reddit Edits As a Large-scale Empirical Dataset for Image Transformationscited by 15
  10. 2024InstructRL4Pix: Training Diffusion for Image Editing by Reinforcement Learningcited by 7
  11. 2025Understanding Generative AI Capabilities in Everyday Image Editing Taskscited by 5

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 4.

4 papers.

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  1. 2026Edit-R2: Context-Aware Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Turn Image Editing
  2. 2026Leveraging Verifier-Based Reinforcement Learning in Image Editing
  3. 2026Making Image Editing Easier via Adaptive Task Reformulation with Agentic Executions
  4. 2025SPIE: Semantic and Structural Post-Training of Image Editing Diffusion Models with AI feedback
  5. 2026Can We Perform Online RL for Image Editing without Editing Rewards?
  6. 2026RetouchIQ: MLLM Agents for Instruction-Based Image Retouching with Generalist Reward
  7. 2026Scalable Minimal-Change Learning for Controllable Image Editing
  8. 2026MT-EditFlow: Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Turn Image Editing with Flow Matching