Insight-V++: Towards Advanced Long-Chain Visual Reasoning with Multimodal Large Language Models
Organizations: S-Lab, Nanyang Technological University, Tencent Hunyuan, and Tsinghua University
Abstract
Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable reliability and advanced capabilities through extended test-time reasoning. However, extending these capabilities to Multi-modal Large Language Models (MLLMs) remains a significant challenge due to a critical scarcity of high-quality, long-chain reasoning data and optimized training pipelines. To bridge this gap, we present a unified multi-agent visual reasoning framework that systematically evolves from our foundational image-centric model, Insight-V, into a generalized spatial-temporal architecture, Insight-V++. We first propose a scalable data generation pipeline equipped with multi-granularity assessment that autonomously synthesizes structured, complex reasoning trajectories across image and video domains without human intervention. Recognizing that directly supervising MLLMs with such intricate data yields sub-optimal results, we design a dual-agent architecture comprising a reasoning agent to execute extensive analytical chains, and a summary agent to critically evaluate and distill final outcomes. While our initial framework utilized Direct Preference Optimization (DPO), its off-policy nature fundamentally constrained reinforcement learning potential. To overcome these limitations, particularly for long-horizon video understanding, Insight-V++ introduces two novel algorithms, ST-GRPO and J-GRPO, which enhance spatial-temporal reasoning and improve evaluative robustness. Crucially, by leveraging reliable feedback from the summary agent, we guide an iterative reasoning path generation process, retraining the entire multi-agent system in a continuous, self-improving loop. Extensive experiments on base models like LLaVA-NeXT and Qwen2.5-VL demonstrate significant performance gains across challenging image and video reasoning benchmarks while preserving strong capabilities on traditional perception-focused tasks.
Figures & tables
| Model | Size | Reasoning | Perception | Average | |||||||||
| MMMU val | MMMU-Pro avg | MMBench | ChartQA | MMStar | MathVista testmini | MME | TextVQA | OCRBench | AI2D | Reasoning | Perception | ||
| DeepSeek-VL [ 63 ] | 7B | 35.4 | - | 73.5 | 59.1 | 37.1 | 36.1 | -/- | - | - | 65.3 | - | - |
| VILA-1.5 [ 50 ] | 8B | 38.6 | - | 75.3 | - | 39.7 | - | 1634.9/- | - | - | 58.8 | - | - |
| Cambrian-1 [ 91 ] | 8B | 42.7 | - | 75.9 | 73.3 | - | 49.0 | 1547.1/- | 72.6 | - | 74.6 | - | - |
| InternLM-XComposer2 [ 14 ] | 7B | 41.1 | - | 77.6 | 71.8 | 56.2 | 59.5 | 2220.4 | 69.7 | - | 81.2 | - | - |
| POINTS [ 57 ] | 7B | 51.4 | - | 78.0 | - | 60.9 | 63.0 | 2184.1 | 60.0 | - | 81.2 | - | - |
| Model | Size | MathVision test | MathVerse testmini | WeMath Loose | LogicVista test | DynaMath worst | CharXiv Reasoning | Average |
| Closed-source Models | ||||||||
| GPT-4o [ 36 ] | - | 31.1 | 40.6 | - | 64.4 | 34.5 | - | - |
| GPT-4o mini [ 36 ] | - | 27.3 | 30.0 | 48.8 | 41.4 | 31.6 | 34.1 | - |
| Open-source Models – SFT | ||||||||
| LLaVA-OneVision [ 41 ] | 7B | 17.6 | 17.6 | - | 32.0 | 9.0 | 23.6 | - |
| InternVL3-8B [ 139 ] | 8B | 28.6 | 33.9 | - | 43.6 | 23.0 | 37.6 | - |
| Model | Size | VideoMME | VideoMMMU | MMVU MC | VideoMMLU | VideoHolmes | Video-TT MC | Average |
| Proprietary Models | ||||||||
| GPT-4o [ 72 ] | - | 71.9 | 61.2 | 75.4 | 49.4 | 42.0 | 46.6 | 57.8 |
| Gemini-1.5-Pro [ 86 ] | - | 75.0 | 53.9 | - | - | 41.2 | 42.3 | - |
| Gemini-1.5-Flash [ 86 ] | - | 70.3 | 49.8 | - | 43.6 | - | - | - |
| Gemini-2.5-Pro [ 87 ] | - | 84.3 | 83.6 | - | - | 45.0 | - | - |
| Open-Sourced Video MLLMs | ||||||||
| Model | MMMU | ChartQA | MathVista | MMStar | Avg |
| Baseline | 47.1 | 75.7 | 56.9 | 57.0 | 59.2 |
| Vanilla - Direct SFT | 47.0 | 79.2 | 57.6 | 58.4 | 60.6 |
| Multi-Turn Supervised | 48.1 | 79.6 | 57.9 | 58.2 | 61.0 |
| Summary Agent Only | 47.5 | 76.3 | 57.3 | 57.9 | 59.8 |
| Multi-Agent | 49.7 | 81.2 | 58.7 | 58.6 | 62.1 |
| Model | MMMU | ChartQA | MathVista | MMStar | Avg |
| Insight-V (Multi-Agent) | 49.7 | 81.2 | 58.7 | 58.6 | 62.1 |
| + RLAIF | 49.5 | 81.4 | 59.1 | 59.2 | 62.3 |
| + DPO | 50.8 | 80.8 | 59.3 | 59.9 | 62.7 |
| + Iterative DPO | 50.2 | 81.5 | 59.9 | 61.5 | 63.3 |
| Model | MMMU | MathVision | VideoMME | VideoMMMU |
| Insight-V++ (Multi-Agent) | 59.2 | 38.7 | 65.8 | 49.6 |
| + ST-GRPO | 61.7 | 42.9 | 66.7 | 52.0 |
| + ST-GRPO/J-GRPO | 62.5 | 44.8 | 67.2 | 53.4 |
| Collaborative Inference | 63.2 | 46.7 | 67.5 | 53.9 |
| Self-Evolving | 64.8 | 48.6 | 67.8 | 55.8 |
VLM Reasoning
Vision-language model reasoning studies how multimodal systems use visual evidence and language to answer questions, plan, and explain.
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