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Large Action Models: From Inception to Implementation (2412.10047v2)

Published 13 Dec 2024 in cs.AI

Abstract: As AI continues to advance, there is a growing demand for systems that go beyond language-based assistance and move toward intelligent agents capable of performing real-world actions. This evolution requires the transition from traditional LLMs, which excel at generating textual responses, to Large Action Models (LAMs), designed for action generation and execution within dynamic environments. Enabled by agent systems, LAMs hold the potential to transform AI from passive language understanding to active task completion, marking a significant milestone in the progression toward artificial general intelligence. In this paper, we present a comprehensive framework for developing LAMs, offering a systematic approach to their creation, from inception to deployment. We begin with an overview of LAMs, highlighting their unique characteristics and delineating their differences from LLMs. Using a Windows OS-based agent as a case study, we provide a detailed, step-by-step guide on the key stages of LAM development, including data collection, model training, environment integration, grounding, and evaluation. This generalizable workflow can serve as a blueprint for creating functional LAMs in various application domains. We conclude by identifying the current limitations of LAMs and discussing directions for future research and industrial deployment, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in realizing the full potential of LAMs in real-world applications. The code for the data collection process utilized in this paper is publicly available at: https://github.com/microsoft/UFO/tree/main/dataflow, and comprehensive documentation can be found at https://microsoft.github.io/UFO/dataflow/overview/.

Summary

  • The paper introduces a systematic framework for Large Action Models that shift AI from passive text generation to active task execution in dynamic environments.
  • It outlines a multi-phase training process—combining supervised fine-tuning, imitation learning, self-boosting exploration, and reward-based reinforcement learning—achieving an 81.2% task success rate.
  • A Windows GUI agent case study demonstrates improved efficiency and lower latency compared to traditional large language models, while addressing safety, scalability, and ethical concerns.

Okay, so I need to summarize this paper about Large Action Models (LAMs). Let me start by understanding the main points. The paper presents a framework for developing LAMs, which are designed to go beyond language generation and perform actions in real-world environments. It compares LAMs to LLMs, highlighting their ability to execute tasks rather than just generate text.

The paper uses a Windows OS agent called UFO as a case paper. The development process involves data collection, model training, integration, grounding, and evaluation. The authors mention using both task-plan and task-action data, which they collect through automated pipelines involving GPT-4o. The training has four phases: pretraining on task-plan data, imitation learning, self-boosting exploration, and reinforcement learning with a reward model.

The offline evaluation shows that their LAM achieves an 81.2% task success rate, outperforming GPT-4o. Online evaluations in the Windows environment demonstrate competitive performance with lower latency. The paper also discusses limitations like safety risks, ethical concerns, and scalability issues.

I need to make sure the summary is technical, uses proper terminology, and avoids sensational language. I should highlight the key contributions: the framework, the four-phase training, the evaluation results, and the case paper. Also, mention the limitations and future work. Don't forget to structure it with sections as per the guidelines, using markdown but no headings at the start. Include LaTeX if needed, and ensure all acronyms are expanded on first mention. Need to check if I'm missing any key numerical results or unique aspects like the two-phase data collection or the specific metrics used in evaluation. Also, ensure that I don't reference the arXiv ID and maintain an academic tone.

The paper "Large Action Models: From Inception to Implementation" introduces a systematic framework for developing Large Action Models (LAMs) that transition LLMs from passive text generation to active task execution in dynamic environments. LAMs integrate with agent systems to interpret user intent, generate executable actions, and adapt to environmental feedback, bridging the gap between language understanding and real-world interaction.

Key Contributions

  1. LAM Framework:
    • Core Components:
      • Interpretation: Processes multi-modal inputs (text, screenshots, voice) to infer user intent.
      • Action Generation: Produces GUI operations (e.g., click_input, select_text), API calls, or code generation.
      • Dynamic Planning: Hierarchical decomposition of tasks into subtasks with real-time replanning.
      • Specialization: Domain-specific optimization for efficiency (e.g., 81.2% task success rate in Windows GUI tasks).
  2. Development Pipeline:

A five-stage workflow: - Data Collection: - Task-Plan Pairs: 76,672 samples from application documentation, WikiHow, and search logs, augmented via GPT-4o-driven evolution. - Task-Action Trajectories: 2,192 validated trajectories generated through automated instantiation, execution, and evaluation. - Model Training: - Phase 1: Supervised fine-tuning on task-plan data (Mistral-7B achieves 82.2% task success rate). - Phase 2: Imitation learning on GPT-4o trajectories (76.8% task success rate). - Phase 3: Self-boosting exploration on GPT-4o failures (79.3% success rate). - Phase 4: Reward-guided reinforcement learning (81.2% success rate). - Integration: Grounding actions in the Windows GUI via UFO agent, using UI Automation (UIA) APIs. - Evaluation: - Offline Metrics: Step precision (97.7%), object accuracy (87.8%), task success rate (81.2%). - Online Metrics: 71.0% task success rate with 5.41s average step latency, outperforming text-only GPT-4o (63.0%).

  1. Key Insights:
    • LAMs achieve higher efficiency and specialization than general-purpose LLMs (e.g., 30.42s task completion time vs. GPT-4o's 86.42s).
    • Multi-phase training with self-generated trajectories improves robustness, addressing 2284 GPT-4o failure cases.
    • Reward Modeling: Binary success/failure labeling enables offline Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) for policy refinement.

Limitations and Future Directions

  • Safety Risks: Incorrect actions in sensitive domains (e.g., healthcare, robotics) require formal verification and rollback mechanisms.
  • Scalability: High data collection costs for new environments; few-shot adaptation remains challenging.
  • Ethical Concerns: Accountability, bias mitigation, and regulatory compliance in critical applications.
  • Generalization: Current LAMs are environment-specific; cross-domain transfer learning is understudied.

Case Study: UFO Agent

The UFO agent for Windows OS demonstrates LAM capabilities:

  • Architecture:
    • Observation: UIA-derived control elements (buttons, menus).
    • Memory: Logs historical actions and plans for context-aware decisions.
    • Execution: Maps LAM inferences to GUI operations (e.g., click(on=Button("Save"))).
  • Performance: 71.0% task success rate on 435 test requests, outperforming GPT-4o-mini (62.3%) in text-only mode.

Implications

LAMs represent a paradigm shift from language-centric to action-centric AI, enabling autonomous agents in software automation, robotics, and IoT. The framework provides a reproducible blueprint for developing LAMs across domains, though challenges in safety, generalization, and ethical alignment require further research.

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