LOVA3: Learning to Visual Question Answering, Asking and Assessment

TL;DR

LOVA3 introduces a novel framework that enhances multimodal large language models by enabling them to answer, ask, and assess questions about images, leading to improved understanding and performance across various benchmarks.

Contribution

The paper presents a new training framework with two tasks, GenQA and EvalQA, and a benchmark, EvalQABench, to develop questioning and assessment skills in MLLMs, which were previously underexplored.

Findings

Enhanced MLLMs show consistent performance improvements.

Introduction of EvalQABench provides a new evaluation standard.

Training with LOVA3 tasks improves multimodal comprehension.

Abstract

Question answering, asking, and assessment are three innate human traits crucial for understanding the world and acquiring knowledge. By enhancing these capabilities, humans can more effectively utilize data, leading to better comprehension and learning outcomes. Current Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) primarily focus on question answering, often neglecting the full potential of questioning and assessment skills. Inspired by the human learning mechanism, we introduce LOVA3, an innovative framework named "Learning tO Visual question Answering, Asking and Assessment," designed to equip MLLMs with these additional capabilities. Our approach involves the creation of two supplementary training tasks GenQA and EvalQA, aiming at fostering the skills of asking and assessing questions in the context of images. To develop the questioning ability, we compile a comprehensive set of multimodal foundational tasks. For assessment, we introduce a new benchmark called EvalQABench, comprising 64,000 training samples (split evenly between positive and negative samples) and 5,000 validation and testing samples. We posit that enhancing MLLMs with the capabilities to answer, ask, and assess questions will enhance their multimodal comprehension, ultimately improving overall performance. To validate this hypothesis, we train MLLMs using the LOVA3 framework and evaluate them on a range of multimodal datasets and benchmarks. Our results demonstrate consistent performance gains, underscoring the critical role of these additional tasks in fostering comprehensive intelligence in MLLMs. The code is available at https://github.com/showlab/LOVA3.