Page 6 of 8~104 min topic

Alignment and RLHF

Evaluate with evidence

Measure alignment / RLHF with denominators, slices, and gates chosen before seeing results on the general-purpose chat model.

~13 min this pageEvaluation

1Learn the idea

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Metrics

Track for alignment / RLHF: preference win rate vs baseline, harm pass rate, over-refusal rate, capability regression on core tasks. Report fractions like 36/40, not vague quality adjectives. Segment by language, plan tier, document length, or other slices that matter for the general-purpose chat model.

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Protocol

Freeze inputs and neighboring versions while evaluating alignment / RLHF. Change one control. Pair results case by case on the general-purpose chat model. Define hard gates (severe errors, privacy, latency) before the bake-off. Use deterministic checks where possible; humans for nuance; model judges only with calibration against gold.

Numeric reminder for alignment / RLHF: If raters prefer answer A over B in 62 of 100 pairs, the preference model should rank A higher on held-out pairs; a 50/50 split means the signal is noise for that slice.

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Make it operational

Resist adding a twelfth metric before the first three for alignment / RLHF on the general-purpose chat model have owners. This workload improves faster when a small scorecard is trusted than when a warehouse of unused plots exists.

Also pin one numeric memory from this alignment / RLHF chapter: If raters prefer answer A over B in 62 of 100 pairs, the preference model should rank A higher on held-out pairs; a 50/50 split means the signal is noise for that slice. That number is not decoration; it is a template for how claims about alignment / RLHF on the general-purpose chat model should look in design docs. Scoped specifically to alignment / RLHF / general-purpose chat model / evaluation.

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Common mix-ups

People confuse alignment / RLHF with neighboring buzzwords when debugging the general-purpose chat model. Before changing prompts, ask whether the broken stage was evidence gathering, the alignment / RLHF judgment itself, validation, or the product action. Fixing the wrong stage creates folklore (“we tried alignment / RLHF and it failed”) that blocks the next team on the general-purpose chat model. Scoped specifically to alignment / RLHF / general-purpose chat model / evaluation.

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Rehearsal (alignment-and-rlhf/evaluation)

Write a five-line artifact for this page: goal, inputs, check, owner, stop rule. Invent one fluent failure that the check would catch. Keep details specific to alignment and rlhf rather than generic AI advice.

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Rehearsal (alignment-and-rlhf/evaluation)

Write a five-line artifact for this page: goal, inputs, check, owner, stop rule. Invent one fluent failure that the check would catch. Keep details specific to alignment and rlhf rather than generic AI advice.

Read

Rehearsal (alignment-and-rlhf/evaluation)

Write a five-line artifact for this page: goal, inputs, check, owner, stop rule. Invent one fluent failure that the check would catch. Keep details specific to alignment and rlhf rather than generic AI advice.

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Before you start

Why this matters

A demo of the general-purpose chat model looks great on three hand-picked examples of alignment / RLHF. What does that demo refuse to tell you?

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Page assessment

Answer from memory. Completion is saved from this evidence, not from opening the next page.

1. What is one idea from this page you would apply, and what evidence would you check?

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