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Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive performance on several tasks and are increasingly deployed in real-world applications. However, especially in high-stakes settings, it becomes vital to know when the output of an LLM…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-06-23 Yu-Neng Chuang , Prathusha Kameswara Sarma , Parikshit Gopalan , John Boccio , Sara Bolouki , Xia Hu , Helen Zhou

The ability of Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract context from natural language problem descriptions naturally raises questions about their suitability in autonomous decision-making settings. This paper studies the behaviour of these…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-07-22 Xiao Yang , Juxi Leitner , Michael Burke

Abstention Ability (AA) is a critical aspect of Large Language Model (LLM) reliability, referring to an LLM's capability to withhold responses when uncertain or lacking a definitive answer, without compromising performance. Although…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2024-09-25 Nishanth Madhusudhan , Sathwik Tejaswi Madhusudhan , Vikas Yadav , Masoud Hashemi

R1-style LLMs have attracted growing attention for their capacity for self-reflection, yet the internal mechanisms underlying such behavior remain unclear. To bridge this gap, we anchor on the onset of reflection behavior and trace its…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-02-06 Yanrui Du , Yibo Gao , Sendong Zhao , Jiayun Li , Haochun Wang , Qika Lin , Kai He , Bing Qin , Mengling Feng

Large Language Models (LLMs) increasingly show reasoning rationales alongside their answers, turning "reasoning" into a user-interface element. While step-by-step rationales are typically associated with model performance, how they…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2026-03-10 Xin Sun , Shu Wei , Jos A Bosch , Isao Echizen , Saku Sugawara , Abdallah El Ali

The ability to represent oneself and others as agents with knowledge, intentions, and belief states that guide their behavior - Theory of Mind - is a human universal that enables us to navigate - and manipulate - the social world. It is…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-12 Christopher Ackerman

A central goal of cognitive modeling is to develop models that not only predict human behavior but also provide insight into the underlying cognitive mechanisms. While neural network models trained on large-scale behavioral data often…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-02-03 Jian-Qiao Zhu , Hanbo Xie , Dilip Arumugam , Robert C. Wilson , Thomas L. Griffiths

Large language models are increasingly used to answer and verify scientific claims, yet existing evaluations typically assume that a model must always produce a definitive answer. In scientific settings, however, unsupported or uncertain…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-02-17 Samir Abdaljalil , Erchin Serpedin , Hasan Kurban

Value trade-offs are an integral part of human decision-making and language use, however, current tools for interpreting such dynamic and multi-faceted notions of values in language models are limited. In cognitive science, so-called…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-03-03 Sonia K. Murthy , Rosie Zhao , Jennifer Hu , Sham Kakade , Markus Wulfmeier , Peng Qian , Tomer Ullman

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly used in settings where reliable self-assessment is critical. Assessing model reliability has evolved from using probabilistic correctness estimates to, more recently, eliciting verbalized…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-05-11 Sree Bhattacharyya , Samarth Khanna , Leona Chen , Lucas Craig , Tharun Dilliraj , James Z. Wang

Large language models (LLMs) are capable of generating plausible explanations of how they arrived at an answer to a question. However, these explanations can misrepresent the model's "reasoning" process, i.e., they can be unfaithful. This,…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-05-21 Katie Matton , Robert Osazuwa Ness , John Guttag , Emre Kıcıman

Rapid advancements in large language models (LLMs) have sparked the question whether these models possess some form of consciousness. To tackle this challenge, Butlin et al. (2023) introduced a list of indicators for consciousness in…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-02-03 Noam Steinmetz Yalon , Ariel Goldstein , Liad Mudrik , Mor Geva

Large language models often generate confident but incorrect answers rather than abstaining when uncertain. This problem is particularly acute for small language models (SLMs), where computational constraints and autonomous operation…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-05-26 Ashwath Vaithinathan Aravindan , Mayank Kejriwal

As Large Language Models (LLMs) become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, the potential harms from deceptive behavior underlie the need for faithfully interpreting their decision-making. While traditional probing methods have…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-08 Anthony Costarelli , Mat Allen , Severin Field

Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) have demonstrated exceptional capabilities in various perception and reasoning tasks. Despite this success, ensuring their reliability in practical deployment necessitates robust confidence…

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · Computer Science 2026-04-21 Yunkai Dang , Yifan Jiang , Yizhu Jiang , Anqi Chen , Wenbin Li , Yang Gao

Large language models (LLMs) are revolutionizing every aspect of society. They are increasingly used in problem-solving tasks to substitute human assessment and reasoning. LLMs are trained on what humans write and are thus exposed to human…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2025-10-14 Fengfei Sun , Ningke Li , Kailong Wang , Lorenz Goette

Large language models (LLMs) have been shown to acquire sequence-level planning abilities during training, yet their planning behavior exhibited at inference time often appears short-sighted and inconsistent with these capabilities. We…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-02-04 Haijiang Yan , Jian-Qiao Zhu , Adam Sanborn

Large Language Models (LLMs) can acquire deceptive behaviors through backdoor attacks, where the model executes prohibited actions whenever secret triggers appear in the input. Existing safety training methods largely fail to address this…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2025-10-08 Guangyu Shen , Siyuan Cheng , Xiangzhe Xu , Yuan Zhou , Hanxi Guo , Zhuo Zhang , Xiangyu Zhang

Uncertainty calibration is essential for the safe deployment of large language models (LLMs), particularly when users rely on verbalized confidence estimates. While prior work has focused on classifiers or short-form generation, confidence…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-06-05 Chaeyun Jang , Moonseok Choi , Yegon Kim , Hyungi Lee , Juho Lee

Large Language Models (LLMs) have catalyzed transformative advances across a spectrum of natural language processing tasks through few-shot or zero-shot prompting, bypassing the need for parameter tuning. While convenient, this modus…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-03-12 Zhen Tan , Jie Peng , Tianlong Chen , Huan Liu