Nat Lambert says RL distillation does not use the strongest models as teachers
natolambert · x · 2026-07-21
Nat Lambert pushes back on a claim about Chinese labs using the strongest models as teachers during RL distillation.
- He argues that this is not how distillation works.
- Using the strongest model as a teacher during RL would not deliver a huge lift, because graders in RL are messy and expensive.
- The thread frames the debate as a practical training/evaluation question, not a matter of simple model copying.
Related event: Expert Clarifies RL Distillation: SFT and Midtraining Are Key(3 posts)→
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