Relative Value Biases in Large Language Models

Understand

Studies of reinforcement learning in humans and animals have demonstrated a preference for options that yielded relatively better outcomes in the past, even when those options are associated with lower absolute reward.

• The present study tested whether large language models would exhibit a similar bias.
• We had gpt-4-1106-preview (GPT-4 Turbo) and Llama-2-70B make repeated choices between pairs of options with the goal of maximizing payoffs.
• A complete record of previous outcomes was included in each prompt.