Papers

This paper presents a new system for academic peer review that is more objective, efficient, and community-guided. Our system incorporates author-assisted evaluation (Author-AAE) and community-guided review (CGR) into the peer review of AI conferences. This is in contrast to existing approaches that prioritize alternative systems that only address some of these challenges. Our evaluation uses data from three major AI conferences that used our system and from a survey of reviewers. Their feedback indicates that our system’s reviews are superior to single-LLM-based reviews due to their reduced subjectivity and enhanced quality. The reviewers’ scores for our system’s reviews were significantly higher than for single-LLM-based reviews across multiple metrics: “Reproducibility and Quality” (by 0.427 ± 0.007), “Review Quality” (by 0.265 ± 0.09), and “Alignment between opinion and paper score” (by 0.503 ± 0.090). In addition, we discovered that single-LLM-based reviews are more likely to be rejected by the program committee after author major revisions (on average by 0.182 ± 0.103) and are much more likely to be rejected overall (on average by 0.300 ± 0.124), compared to our system’s reviews. These results suggest that our system performs better in reducing the arbitrary nature of the current peer review system and can serve as an inspiration for the scientific community to explore new review systems.

Training small language models is challenging due to their limited capacity to capture complex patterns and their susceptibility to overfitting. To address these issues, we investigate gradient noise injection as a regularization strategy, building on prior work while introducing a noise schedule that decays exponentially over training. Unlike existing techniques, our method explicitly controls the trade-off between exploration and stability during optimization. We compare the exponential decay schedule with linear and adaptive variants, demonstrating empirically that the exponential schedule yields superior convergence and generalization. Extensive experiments on diverse text corpora, including shakespeare\_char, enwik8, text8, and larger benchmark datasets, show consistent improvements in training dynamics, validation loss, and final performance. We report error bars and statistical significance tests to ensure robustness of the results. Detailed implementation information, including model architectures, hyperparameter settings, dataset sizes, and optimization strategies, is provided to support reproducibility, and we release our code and trained models publicly. Furthermore, we compare gradient noise injection with other regularization methods such as dropout, weight decay, and data augmentation, both in isolation and in combination, revealing complementary effects on training stability and generalization. Finally, we analyze the computational cost of gradient noise injection relative to these baselines, highlighting its practical efficiency in resource-constrained environments. Together, these contributions position gradient noise injection as a theoretically grounded, empirically validated, and computationally practical method for improving the robustness of small language models.

In the evolving landscape of digital platforms, the demand for robust recommendation systems is paramount to manage the deluge of user-generated data. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as a potent strategy in recognizing intricate user-item interactions due to their ability to leverage structural data insights. However, existing GNN-based models often overlook trust dynamics, a critical factor in ensuring recommendation reliability and transparency. Despite recognition of trust's potential to address biases and enhance models' interpretability, its integration with sophisticated network-based techniques remains underexplored. Responding to this gap, we propose the Trust-Enhanced Graph-Based Recommendation Model (GTERM), which seamlessly incorporates trust metrics within the GNN framework. GTERM transforms raw interaction data into a trust-augmented graph, employing graph convolutional and attention mechanisms to emphasize trust-enriched interactions, thereby refining recommendation accuracy and transparency. The proposed model achieves notable improvements over baseline methods, as evidenced in diverse experimental evaluations, demonstrating its capacity to deliver more accurate, trustworthy, and interpretable recommendations. Through the integration of trust factors, GTERM fosters user acceptance and enhances system performance by resolving key challenges related to the lack of interpretability and trustworthiness in traditional GNN-based systems.

As machine learning becomes integral to government programs aimed at identify- ing and assisting the most vulnerable populations, this paper investigates whether improving predictive accuracy is more beneficial than expanding screening capac- ity. We hypothesize that in typical operational conditions, enhancing capacity to reach more individuals will provide greater benefits than marginal gains in pre- diction accuracy. We introduce the Prediction-Access Ratio (PAR) to quantify this trade-off, guiding policymakers on when to invest in better models versus ex- panding access. Utilizing both mathematical modeling and a case study on long- term unemployment among German jobseekers, we demonstrate that expanding screening capacity generally leads to improved identification of the worst-off. Our findings empower policymakers with actionable insights, enabling more effective allocation of resources in equity-driven contexts.

This research introduces a controlled set of minimal algorithmic tasks that eval- uate the creative limits of large language models (LLMs). These tasks require a stochastic planning step that either discovers novel connections in knowledge graphs or constructs new patterns, simulating open-ended real-world challenges. We propose that traditional next-token learning is myopic, whereas multi-token prediction (MTP) approaches, such as teacherless training and diffusion models, excel in producing diverse and original outputs. Our novel seed-conditioning tech- nique, which introduces randomness at the input layer, is presented as an effective method to elicit creativity without sacrificing coherence, performing comparably to existing output-layer temperature sampling. This study aims to provide a prin- cipled framework for assessing the creative capabilities of LLMs and advocates for a shift away from conventional next-token learning paradigms.

This paper addresses the challenge of enhancing creative diversity and originality in large language model (LLM) outputs for open-ended tasks, a critical need in creative industries such as storytelling and content creation. Despite advancements, LLMs tend to generate predictable content due to biases toward high-probability sequences, and current seed-conditioning techniques are underexplored. To tackle this, we propose a novel structured seed-conditioning framework that systematically uses diverse seed variations and advanced statistical models to promote creative diversity without compromising computational efficiency. Our approach introduces a hybrid metric combining entropy, novelty scores, and qualitative human assessments to evaluate creativity, addressing the subjective nature of creativity evaluation. Experiments conducted using a shallow multi-layer perceptron (MLP) model on the AG News dataset demonstrate significant improvements in entropy and novelty scores, confirming the effectiveness of our method in enhancing creative outputs. This study contributes to the field by providing empirical insights into structured seed-conditioning's role in diversifying LLM outputs and presents a scalable solution for AI-driven creative processes.

In this work, we propose a scalable framework to simulate the labor market impacts of the ChatGPT event using a two-stage dynamic prompt tuning mechanism combined with an LLM-based qualitative classifier; our objective is to operationalize labor displacement signals (P1) alongside shared prosperity (P3) and detectability (P6) by addressing the inherent challenges of dynamic prompt adaptation and qualitative taxonomy mapping. We tackle the complexity of evolving labor market signals through gradient-based meta-learning updates, modeled as ∆s = αst−1 + ϵ, and employ a Difference-in-Differences regression of the form Yit = β0 + β1 Treatmentit + γi + δt + εit to quantify the impact on employment metrics, notably obtaining a significant negative treatment coefficient of approximately −5.71 (with p < 0.001). Our qualitative classifier achieves a robust accuracy of 74.97% in mapping job narratives to six predefined propositions, and supplemental analyses—such as a principal component analysis (PCA) yielding an AI Capacity Index and its near-zero correlation (r ≈ 0.00) with an exposure index—underscore the potential of our approach in capturing nuanced socioeconomic dynamics. Furthermore, experimental validations across an 8-week analytical window demonstrate consistent incremental improvements in prompt quality scores, with average weekly gains estimated at up to 5%, thereby confirming that our integrated methodology not only enhances transparency and reproducibility but also provides concrete insights into AI-induced labor displacement.

Aid and assistance are key to reducing social inequalities. In the public sector, aid providers face the challenge to distribute resources according to needs. In recent years, algorithms for need assessment have become an integral part of public institutions. While need assessment is crucial, the implications for the distribution of aid and assistance in the public sector are still poorly understood. In this work, we investigate how the use of predictive models for need assessment impacts the distribution of aid and assistance in the German public employment service. To this end, we develop a synthetic dataset for the “first round” assignment in the German public employment service based on regional data from the State of Bavaria in 2019. Our dataset comprises labels for 85,299 out of 275,889 employed and unemployed, treated and untargeted individuals in 2019. The label indicates whether a person received a prioritized status and thus privileged access to government services. We find that the use of predictive models leads to significant resource imbalances and deepens the divides along the lines of migration background, education, and gender. These findings highlight important ethical implications for public service providers in need of need assessment for aid and assistance.

Cultural dynamics in multi-agent systems exhibit a counterintuitive phenomenon: local similarity-based interactions can lead to global fragmentation rather than convergence. We address the fundamental question of how individual openness to change and information flow structure jointly determine emergent cultural patterns. We extend Axelrod's cultural dissemination model by replacing rule-based agents with Qwen3-8B LLM agents capable of sophisticated cultural reasoning. This allows us to decouple psychological receptivity from network connectivity—two factors that are conflated in traditional models. Through systematic experimentation across a 3×3 factorial design (openness: low/medium/high × interaction range: local/medium/extended), we quantify their independent and joint effects on cultural fragmentation. Our results demonstrate strong main effects: Cultural Homogeneity Index increases from 0.279 to 0.437 with higher openness (1st order interactions, +57\%), while optimal information flow (3rd order) achieves the highest convergence at 0.489 for high openness agents—representing 75\% improvement over low openness baseline (0.279). Critically, we uncover a non-monotonic relationship where 3rd-order interactions consistently outperform both 1st and 5th-order across all openness levels, revealing an optimal balance between exploration and exploitation. Code can be found at https://anonymous.4open.science/r/YuLan-OneSim/.

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly transforming scientific discovery, showing promise in hypothesis generation, literature understanding, and symbolic reasoning. Yet, their capacity to conduct iterative, feedback-driven molecular design---a hallmark of real-world drug and materials discovery---remains underexplored. Existing benchmarks typically cast molecular tasks as one-shot question-answering or text-to-molecule translation, neglecting the iterative propose-evaluate-refine process central to scientific practice. We propose \textbf{ICIMBench}, an \textit{In-Context Iterative Molecular Design Benchmark} that evaluates LLMs in multi-turn molecular design episodes. In each task, the model receives a natural-language specification, generates candidate molecules in SMILES format, and iteratively refines them based on deterministic oracle feedback from RDKit. We introduce the \textbf{NumEval} metric---the number of evaluations required to satisfy the target---which captures both performance efficiency and robustness under realistic evaluation budgets. Experiments on frontier models (GPT-5, DeepSeek-V3.2, Intern-S1) show that while single-property design is largely solved (NumEval $=1$) by state-of-the-art LLMs like GPT-5, multi-property optimization remains a strong challenge, especially under coupled constraints such as lipophilicity and scaffold similarity. ICIMBench provides a principled framework for probing the in-context reasoning and adaptive optimization abilities of LLMs, paving the way toward autonomous, language-driven molecular discovery.

Mega-cap technology equities, cryptocurrencies, and gold increasingly co-determine modern portfolio outcomes, yet their joint dynamics are regime-dependent and incompletely understood. This paper studies the state-dependent comovement among Apple Inc. (AAPL), Bitcoin (BTC), and gold (XAU) using daily data from 2015 to 2025. We triangulate three complementary lenses: (i) rolling Pearson correlations to trace smooth co-movement and structural shifts; (ii) a Diebold–Yilmaz connectedness framework based on rolling 252-day VARs and generalized forecast-error variance decompositions to identify directional risk transmitters and receivers; and (iii) empirical copulas to estimate lower- and upper-tail dependence at the 5% threshold, contrasting crash versus rally dynamics. We document three core results. First, the AAPL–BTC correlation rose from near zero before 2020 to roughly 0.30 during the COVID-19 period and has remained persistently elevated through 2025, indicating a lasting post-pandemic regime. Second, gold emerges as a net transmitter of shocks while BTC is a net receiver, revising the canonical view of gold as a purely passive safe haven. Third, AAPL–BTC exhibits pronounced asymmetry in the tails, with downside dependence considerably stronger than upside (“crash correlation”). Robustness checks spanning window sizes, VAR lags, alternative dependence metrics, and tail thresholds corroborate these findings. The portfolio implication is that static diversification across tech, crypto, and gold underperforms precisely when insurance is most needed. We advocate regime-aware allocation that monitors connectedness and transmitter identity, budgets explicitly for joint-tail risk, and uses dynamic overlays. The results also inform macro-prudential monitoring: supervisors should track transmitter rotations and connectedness spikes that presage cross-market stress transmission.

This research presents a comprehensive diagnostic study of confidence-gated iterative induction for zero-shot Named Entity Recognition (NER) in crisis scenarios. While existing approaches struggle to adapt to novel disaster lexicons without manually curated resources, we investigate whether iterative knowledge distillation can overcome these limitations. Our framework leverages a pretrained language model to extract high-recall entity candidates, then iteratively distills domain knowledge through a self-correcting loop that uses high-confidence seeds to induce micro-gazetteers and syntactic rules. Comprehensive evaluations on synthetic crisis data reveal that the framework maintains a constant zero-shot F1-score of approximately 0.295 across all experimental configurations, demonstrating that the iterative mechanism provides no measurable improvement over baseline approaches. This negative result offers valuable diagnostic insights into the fundamental challenges of adaptive NER in dynamic crisis domains, including confidence threshold calibration difficulties, clustering algorithm limitations, and error propagation risks. The findings provide a cautionary tale for researchers working on adaptive NER systems and establish a foundation for future research on more robust zero-shot approaches in crisis scenarios.

Training small language models is challenging due to their limited capacity to capture complex patterns and their susceptibility to overfitting. To address these issues, we investigate gradient noise injection as a regularization strategy, building on prior work while introducing a noise schedule that decays exponentially over training. Unlike existing techniques, our method explicitly controls the trade-off between exploration and stability during optimization. We compare the exponential decay schedule with linear and adaptive variants, demonstrating empirically that the exponential schedule yields superior convergence and generalization. Extensive experiments on diverse text corpora, including shakespeare\_char, enwik8, text8, and larger benchmark datasets, show consistent improvements in training dynamics, validation loss, and final performance. We report error bars and statistical significance tests to ensure robustness of the results. Detailed implementation information, including model architectures, hyperparameter settings, dataset sizes, and optimization strategies, is provided to support reproducibility, and we release our code and trained models publicly. Furthermore, we compare gradient noise injection with other regularization methods such as dropout, weight decay, and data augmentation, both in isolation and in combination, revealing complementary effects on training stability and generalization. Finally, we analyze the computational cost of gradient noise injection relative to these baselines, highlighting its practical efficiency in resource-constrained environments. Together, these contributions position gradient noise injection as a theoretically grounded, empirically validated, and computationally practical method for improving the robustness of small language models.