From ML Predictions to Informed Diagnostic Assistance Using the Toulmin Model of Argumentation

arXiv:2607.09664v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: To provide a structured and interpretable assessment, we decompose the image-based diagnosis into components following the Toulmin model of argumentation. This model consists of a claim, grounds, warrant, qualifier, rebuttal, and backing. Consider a claim generated by a machine learning (ML) model for retinal diagnosis. Rather than accepting this claim at face value, one could either apply explainable AI (XAI) methods or adopt an argumentation-based approach. In our framework, a model specialized in biomarker extraction from images provides the grounds. The warrant-linking the grounds to the claim – is analyzed by an agent equipped with medical knowledge; in our architecture, this role is fulfilled by a MedGemma agent. The qualifier is determined based on the overall quantitative evaluation of both the warrant and grounds models. Finally, a rebuttal is constructed using image similarity measures computed with MedSigLip. All these components are presented to the human expert, enabling a more informed and critical assessment of the ML-generated diagnosis.
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Format Sensitivity Index: Token-Controlled Prompt Wrapper Robustness and Schema Compliance in LLM Benchmarking

arXiv:2607.09665v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Prompt wrappers often differ only in formatting, yet they can change model scores enough to flip leaderboard conclusions. We study this variance under a token-controlled protocol and introduce two complementary metrics: the Format Sensitivity Index (FSI), the accuracy range induced by wrapper choice, and the Parseability Sensitivity Index (PSI), the corresponding range in answer parseability. Across 140,000 OpenRouter generations spanning 7 QA tasks, 5 wrapper families, and 4 instruct models from 7B to 72B parameters, we find that mean FSI varies by over 30x across models and is largely explained by compliance failures. A fixed-effects regression shows that parseability remains a strong predictor of accuracy even after controlling for task, model, and wrapper. We argue that reporting accuracy without wrapper variance and compliance is statistically fragile, and we give practical recommendations for both benchmarking and structured-output deployments.
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Faithful, Not Corrective: Message-Format Effects in Multi-Hop Agent Relays Are Tier-Dependent

arXiv:2607.09678v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: When LLM agents hand off information to one another, does the message format matter? Two literatures disagree: format-optimization work reports that structured messages cut cost without hurting accuracy, while format-restriction work finds that imposing structure degrades generation — and neither measures what happens when a message traverses multiple hops, where copy fidelity, not one-shot generation, dominates. We introduce a controlled relay testbed: briefs of twelve programmatically generated atomic facts are re-encoded hop-by-hop in five formats (free NL, precision-instructed NL, JSON, triples, key-value) over six hops, scored by a fixed strong grader against programmatic ground truth, across two relay-capability tiers, a cognitive-load condition, and a paired-fork error injection. We find that message-format effects are tier-dependent. (i) Under faithful-relay instructions a strong relay is nearly lossless — the documented “telephone-game” collapse does not occur — and adding per-hop cognitive load leaves format-level fidelity unchanged (within +/-1.8 points) while raising generation cost by 24-53%. (ii) Under a weak (1.5B) relay the across-format spread of six-hop recall grows by a factor of 8.7 (from 2.3 to 20.5 points), driven by two opposing mechanisms — an encoding toll paid by the rigid formats and drift resistance specific to the fixed-key JSON schema — that flip the format ranking in transit. (iii) In a paired-fork injection, an injected wrong value, once present, persists to the final hop in 83-100% of chains in every format, closely matching each format’s retention of the true value, with no detectable collateral damage to neighboring facts. Structure buys a faithful, error-localizing channel — not an error-correcting code — and format choice should follow the weakest relay in the pipeline.
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Boltzmann MapReduce: A Partition-Function Reduce for Forkable Sandboxes

arXiv:2607.09689v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: To leading order under local asymptotic normality (LAN), the confidence density a worker emits over a chunk of size $n$ is a Gibbs–Boltzmann measure $exp{-beta E(theta)}$ whose inverse temperature is the sample size, $beta=n$. Three consequences are exact in the Gaussian/linear case and first-order otherwise: disjoint chunks carry independent Boltzmann factors, so the MapReduce emph{reduce}, read literally, is a partition function $Z=intprod_k h_k,dtheta$ whose mode is precision-weighted (inverse-variance) pooling; frequentist consistency is the zero-temperature limit $T=1/nto0$
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Interpreting Latent CoT Reasoning as Dynamical Systems

arXiv:2607.09698v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Recent latent reasoning methods, such as CODI and COCONUT, face a fundamental interpretability problem: they maintain multiple superimposed candidate traces in the hidden space at each step, unlike explicit- CoT, which follows a single transparent reasoning trace. Existing mechanistic methods show compression, shortcuts, and superposition without explaining how reasoning evolves across latent steps. To address this gap, we model latent token sequences as trajectories in representation space and apply dynamical systems analysis to characterize the evolution of reasoning. Using quantitative measures, such as step-to-step change, direction consistency, and Lyapunov sensitivity, alongside qualitative projections, such as UMAP and DMD/PHATE, we show that latent CoT exhibits structured, non-random dynamics with two distinct stability classes. CODI behaves as a stable attractor, while COCONUT behaves as an unstable expanding system, and SIM-CoT supervision tightens both behaviors without changing the underlying dynamics. This framework advances the interpretability of latent CoT reasoning dynamics and provides actionable insights for improving latent reasoning performance. Code1 and Project page2 available online.
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Interval Certifications for Multilayered Perceptrons via Lattice Traversal

arXiv:2607.08773v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: In this work we present a rigorous theoretical framework to a foundational problem of AI safety, namely adversarial robustness. In particular, we show that the adversarial robustness problem can be reduced to a lattice traversal problem. Each element of this lattice corresponds to an interval, i.e., an axis-aligned hyper-rectangle, containing an input point $mathbf{x}$. Consider a multilayered perceptron classifier (MLP). An interval $I$ constitutes a sound certification if $mathbf{x} in I$ and $mathbf{x}$ can be freely perturbed in $I$ without changing the MLP’s prediction. Complementarily, an interval $I$ constitutes a complete certification if $mathbf{x} in I$ and when $mathbf{x}$ moves outside of $I$ the MLP’s prediction is guaranteed to change. While the sound certification problem corresponds to the well-studied adversarial robustness, complete certifications have not been examined in the literature. We develop lattice traversal operators, which we apply in a refine & verify iterative scheme. Using formal MLP verifiers, sound maximality and complete minimality are guaranteed. Moreover, we examine objective optimization problems. There we discover some interesting asymmetries. For complete certifications, the minimum solution is obtained in polynomial oracle calls. This does not hold for sound certifications, where we prove strong intractability results. Additionally, we examine optimization problems in symmetric intervals (i.e., $ell_infty$-spheres), where we provide logarithmic algorithms. Finally, we present an empirical evaluation, using the novel ParallelepipedoNN system.
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