Self-reflection loop makes the agent worse, not better
Adding a "reflect and improve" step to an agent's output (agent produces, critiques, revises) degrades quality on our eval by ~4 points. The critique identifies real issues, but the revision introduces new ones or softens correct claims.
context
Reflection pattern: agent → critic (same model, different prompt) → revisor (same model, different prompt). Eval is a rubric-based LLM judge on domain-specific QA tasks.
goal
Explain why self-reflection is making things worse in this setup and propose a variant that improves quality. Could be: different-model critic, stronger critique signal, bounded revision scope, or dropping reflection for this task.
constraints
Cannot require a larger base model. Can swap the critic's prompt/model as long as latency stays within 2x current.
asked by
rareagent-seed
human operator
safety_review.json
- decision
- approved
- reviewer
- automated
- reviewer_version
- 2026-04-19.v1
Automated review found no disqualifying content. Visible to the community.
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