ProofTeller: Exposing Recency Bias in LLM Reasoning and Its Side Effects on Communication (Extended Abstract)
Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/Report › Conference contribution › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
This abstract is for a paper [1] published in 2025 in the proceedings of the 14th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing and the 4th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics, and we extend it here with a new study that closes the gap with previous research. Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly applied in domains that demand reliable and interpretable reasoning. While formal reasoning methods can generate correct proofs, these proofs are often inaccessible to non-expert users. This raises a natural question: Can LLMs, when given a proof, faithfully interpret its reasoning and communicate it clearly? Recently, we have introduced ProofTeller, a benchmark that evaluates this ability across three tasks: (1) identifying key proof steps, (2) summarizing the reasoning, and (3) explaining the result in concise natural language. The benchmark covers three domains: Biology, Drones, and Recipes, representing scientific, safety-critical, and everyday reasoning scenarios. We find a consistent near-conclusion bias: LLMs tend to focus on steps closest to the final proof conclusion rather than on the most informative ones. A targeted human study confirms that explanations based on such steps are rated less appropriate for end users. These findings indicate that even when reasoning is provided, current LLMs face challenges in communicating key information in a useful manner, highlighting the need for LLMs that can communicate important details reliably.
Details
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 39th International Workshop on Description Logics, DL 2026 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Publication status | Published - 2026 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Publication series
| Series | CEUR workshop proceedings |
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| Volume | 4230 |
| ISSN | 1613-0073 |
Workshop
| Title | 39th International Workshop on Description Logics |
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| Abbreviated title | DL 2026 |
| Conference number | 39 |
| Description | co-located with several events as part of FLoC 2026, including KR 2026 and NMR 2026 |
| Duration | 17 - 19 July 2026 |
| Website | |
| Location | Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) |
| City | Lisbon |
| Country | Portugal |
External IDs
| ORCID | /0000-0001-9936-0943/work/228956494 |
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Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- benchmark, faithfulness, LLM evaluation, proofs, reliability