Monday, June 29, 2026

Daily Digest 2026-06-29

Today’s research focuses heavily on enhancing the reliability of autonomous agents through verifiable planning, world modeling, and robust error mitigation. A significant emphasis is placed on bridging the gap between high-level reasoning and grounded execution in complex environments.

Research highlights:

  • Agentic Planning and World Models: Research explores unified training paradigms and parameterized world models to reduce hallucination and improve long-term planning.
  • Verifiability and Reliability: New frameworks introduce verifiable rewards, truth-preserving foundation models, and symbolic feedback to ensure agent outputs remain accurate and grounded.
  • Multi-Agent Systems and Social Dynamics: Studies examine the impact of personality composition on team performance and establish benchmarks for social norm compliance in embodied planning.
  • Robustness and Safety: Developments include β€œimmune systems” for agent architectures, multimodal emotion reasoning, and hierarchical frameworks for multi-source claim verification.
  • Optimization and Distillation: Techniques for turn-aware on-policy distillation and black-box knowledge distillation aim to improve multi-turn agent performance and model efficiency.

Tech buzz:

  • Recent news highlights the intersection of AI development with global economic risks and the evolution of automated attribution.
  • Economic Impact: Central bankers warn that the rapid AI boom could potentially trigger a global financial crash.
  • Open Source and Infrastructure: New releases in codebase memory, trading systems, and industrial-scale VLM solutions for item management are gaining traction.
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Today's research focuses heavily on enhancing the reliability of autonomous agents through verifiable planning, world modeling, and robust error mitigation. A significant emphasis is placed on bridging the gap between high-level reasoning and grounded execution in complex environments.

Papers discovered from ArXiv subject categories

AI Safety

5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)Multiagent Systems (cs.MA) 29 Jun 2026
Agent-Native Immune System: Architecture, Taxonomy, and Engineering

Bo Shen, Lifeng Chang, Tianyuan Wei, Yunpeng Li, Feng Shi, Yichen Han, Peijie Gao, Shiyi Kuang, Xin Chang, Dehui Li

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.28270

Authors: Bo Shen, Lifeng Chang, Tianyuan Wei, Yunpeng Li, Feng Shi, Yichen Han, Peijie Gao, Shiyi Kuang, Xin Chang, Dehui Li

Abstract:

The transition from static chat bots to autonomous agents--equipped with persistent memory, tool-use protocols, and multi-agent collaboration--has fundamentally expanded the AI threat landscape. Current defense mechanisms, such as perimeter security and training-time alignment, remain external to the agent's active reasoning loop. Consequently, they fall short: a fully aligned agent remains highly vulnerable to runtime hijacking via memory poisoning, tool-chain manipulation, or multi-agent protocol attacks. To address this critical gap, we introduce the Agent-Native Immune System (ANIS), the first biologically inspired, endogenous defense architecture embedded directly within the agent's cognitive loop. Our framework presents four primary contributions. First, we design a six-layer Immune Tower (L0-L5), distinctly incorporating Barrier Immunity (L1) as a non-cognitive, physical-and-logical isolation layer. Second, we establish a unified taxonomy of Agent Viruses and Agent Vaccines, formalizing the critical distinction between superficial non-parametric defenses and robust parametric vaccines. Third, we conceptualize the Harness Triad--Meta, Self, and Auto--a self-monitoring, meta-cognitive automation backbone that drives Continual Immune Learning (CIL), enabling vaccines to dynamically adapt to novel threats. Finally, we establish a rigorous theoretical demarcation between model alignment and agent immunity: while alignment provides a static "constitutional" value foundation during training, ANIS serves as the dynamic "law enforcement" mechanism during runtime. We conclude by framing open challenges for the field, including immune protocol standardization, novel evaluation metrics such as the Autoimmunity Rate (false-positive intervention rate), and the co-evolutionary dynamics between pathogens and vaccines within collective intelligence ecosystems.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces the Agent-Native Immune System (ANIS), the first biologically inspired, endogenous defense architecture embedded directly within an agent's cognitive loop to protect against runtime hijacking.

Core Idea: Unlike static alignment, ANIS acts as a dynamic 'law enforcement' mechanism that monitors and defends the agent's active reasoning, memory, and tool-use protocols in real-time.

Technique: The framework utilizes a six-layer Immune Tower (L0-L5), a unified taxonomy of Agent Viruses/Vaccines, and a Harness Triad (Meta, Self, Auto) to drive Continual Immune Learning (CIL).

Pipeline: Agent Input/Action β†’ Immune Tower Monitoring (L0-L5) β†’ Harness Triad Meta-Cognition β†’ Continual Immune Learning (CIL) β†’ Secured Agent Output

Methodology: The authors propose a theoretical framework and architectural design that distinguishes between non-parametric barriers and parametric vaccines, supported by a self-monitoring automation backbone.

Results: The framework establishes a theoretical demarcation between alignment and immunity and introduces new evaluation metrics like the Autoimmunity Rate to measure false-positive interventions.

Limitations: Open challenges include the need for immune protocol standardization, establishing robust evaluation metrics, and understanding the co-evolutionary dynamics between pathogens and vaccines.

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4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) 29 Jun 2026
ToE: A Hierarchical and Explainable Claim Verification Framework with Dynamic Multi-source Evidence Retrieval and Aggregation

Zhaoqi Wang, Zijian Zhang, Kun Zheng, Zhen Li, Xin Li, Chunlei Li, Jiamou Liu

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27736

Authors: Zhaoqi Wang, Zijian Zhang, Kun Zheng, Zhen Li, Xin Li, Chunlei Li, Jiamou Liu

Abstract:

The rapid spread of fake news poses increasing threats to information ecosystems, especially as AI-generated misinformation under Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) poisoning allows adversarially crafted content to be systematically surfaced by retrieval systems, contaminating LLM reasoning. In this paper, we propose Tree of Evidence (ToE), a hierarchical evidence reasoning framework for automated fact-checking that models each claim as a dynamically expanding argument tree. ToE integrates a reinforcement learning-driven multi-source retrieval agent, an evidence evaluation agent, and an argument tree aggregation algorithm to iteratively decompose, retrieve, and verify claims through an explainable evidence chain. We further provide a theoretical analysis of the retrieval process, deriving a formal error bound that guarantees the learned policy converges to a neighborhood of the information-theoretically optimal policy. Experiments across multiple datasets and backbone LLMs demonstrate that ToE achieves improvements ranging from 4 to 24 percentage points over competitive baselines, with particularly pronounced gains on adversarially poisoned inputs.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces ToE, a hierarchical and explainable claim verification framework designed to counter AI-generated misinformation and GEO-poisoned content. It provides a theoretical error bound for the retrieval process and demonstrates significant performance gains over existing baselines.

Core Idea: The framework models claim verification as a dynamically expanding argument tree, decomposing complex claims into verifiable sub-claims supported by a multi-source evidence chain.

Technique: ToE utilizes a reinforcement learning-driven multi-source retrieval agent, an evidence evaluation agent, and a specialized argument tree aggregation algorithm.

Pipeline: Claim input β†’ Hierarchical decomposition into argument tree β†’ RL-driven multi-source retrieval β†’ Evidence evaluation β†’ Argument tree aggregation β†’ Verified claim with explainable evidence chain

Methodology: The authors employ a multi-agent system where agents iteratively retrieve and evaluate evidence, supported by a theoretical analysis of the retrieval policy's convergence to an information-theoretically optimal state.

Results: ToE achieved improvements of 4 to 24 percentage points over competitive baselines, showing particularly strong resilience against adversarially poisoned inputs.

Limitations: The paper does not explicitly detail the computational overhead of the iterative tree expansion or the scalability of the RL-driven agent across extremely large-scale real-time information streams.

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Agentic AI

5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
Internalizing the Future: A Unified Agentic Training Paradigm for World Model Planning

Xuan Zhang, Zhijian Zhou, Lingfeng Qiao, Yulei Qin, Ke Li, Xing Sun, Xiaoyu Tan, Chao Qu, Yuan Qi

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27483

Authors: Xuan Zhang, Zhijian Zhou, Lingfeng Qiao, Yulei Qin, Ke Li, Xing Sun, Xiaoyu Tan, Chao Qu, Yuan Qi

Abstract:

Large language model (LLM) agents have demonstrated strong capability in sequential decision-making, yet they remains fundamentally reactive in long-horizon tasks. Unlike humans who employ "what-if" reasoning to evaluate potential plans before commitment, standard agents lack an internal world model to simulate future outcomes. Therefore, we propose to internalize future-aware planning by training a single autoregressive model to verbalize both a prospective state rollout and a plan-conditioned success estimate-a textual analogue of the Q-value. Crucially, we identify a format-capability gap: simply fine-tuning agents on look-ahead traces during post-training leads to superficial mimicry of foresight without genuine predictive grounding. To bridge this gap, we introduce a three-stage training paradigm: (i) World Model Agentic Mid-Training (WM-AMT) to inject latent predictive capabilities into the policy; (ii) Format-Eliciting SFT (FE-SFT) to structure this injected capability; and (iii) Foresight-Conditioned Reinforcement Learning (FC-RL) to refine the calibration and utility of the generated simulations. Evaluated on search and mathematical reasoning tasks, our approach consistently outperforms other training baselines. Our results demonstrate that effective internal world modeling in LLM agents requires a capability-first training pipeline to achieve grounded and calibrated foresight.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces a unified agentic training paradigm that enables LLM agents to internalize world models for long-horizon planning by verbalizing prospective state rollouts and success estimates.

Core Idea: To move beyond reactive decision-making, agents must be trained to perform 'what-if' reasoning by simulating future outcomes and evaluating plan success internally before committing to actions.

Technique: A three-stage training pipeline (WM-AMT, FE-SFT, and FC-RL) is used to inject latent predictive capabilities, structure them into a specific format, and refine their calibration through reinforcement learning.

Pipeline: Task input β†’ WM-AMT (latent capability injection) β†’ FE-SFT (format elicitation) β†’ FC-RL (calibration) β†’ Grounded foresight-aware plan

Methodology: The authors use a single autoregressive model to generate textual analogues of Q-values and state rollouts, training it through a capability-first pipeline to ensure predictive grounding rather than superficial mimicry.

Results: The approach consistently outperforms standard training baselines on search and mathematical reasoning tasks, demonstrating superior performance in long-horizon planning.

Limitations: The paper does not extensively explore the computational overhead of generating extensive rollouts or the scalability of the textual Q-value representation in extremely complex environments.

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5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
Towards Reliable and Robust LLM Planning: Symbolic Feedback-Driven Iterative Self-Refinement Framework

Jiajing Zhang, Jiamei Jiang, Chenyang Zhang, Feifei Mo, Linjing Li, Daniel Zeng

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27757

Authors: Jiajing Zhang, Jiamei Jiang, Chenyang Zhang, Feifei Mo, Linjing Li, Daniel Zeng

Abstract:

Large language models (LLMs) have attracted widespread attention from academia and industry, yet their deployment raises critical security concerns regarding robustness and reliability. Planning, a core component of intelligent behavior, remains challenging for LLMs, which often produce infeasible or incorrect solutions in long-horizon decision-making tasks due to inherent complexity. In this paper, we propose a symbolic feedback-driven iterative self-refinement framework to enhance the robustness and reliability of LLMs in long-horizon planning. Specifically, a natural language prompting mechanism is introduced to map logical symbols into natural language descriptions, enabling LLMs to better capture task constraints and semantics. We further design a symbolic verifier that identifies errors and converts them into corrective instructions interpretable by the LLM, thereby guiding self-refinement. In addition, we leverage a plan recognizer to infer goal reachability, facilitating more effective guidance toward desired goals. Empirical results demonstrate that the proposed framework consistently improves both feasibility and correctness in long-horizon planning tasks. This highlights its effectiveness in enhancing the reliability of LLM-based planning and potential to enable more trustworthy AI systems.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces a symbolic feedback-driven iterative self-refinement framework designed to improve the reliability and robustness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in long-horizon planning tasks.

Core Idea: The framework combines symbolic logic with LLM reasoning by using a symbolic verifier to identify errors and provide corrective instructions for iterative plan refinement.

Technique: The method employs a natural language prompting mechanism to map logical symbols to descriptions, a symbolic verifier for error detection, and a plan recognizer to assess goal reachability.

Pipeline: Task description and constraints β†’ Natural language symbolic mapping β†’ LLM initial plan generation β†’ Symbolic verification and error identification β†’ Corrective instruction generation β†’ Iterative self-refinement β†’ Final feasible plan

Methodology: The authors developed a system that translates logical constraints into natural language, uses a symbolic verifier to generate interpretable feedback, and employs a plan recognizer to guide the LLM toward reachable goals through multiple refinement loops.

Results: Empirical results demonstrate consistent improvements in both the feasibility and correctness of plans generated in complex, long-horizon decision-making tasks.

Limitations: The paper does not explicitly detail the computational overhead of iterative refinement or the scalability of the symbolic verifier to extremely high-dimensional state spaces.

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5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
Grounded Iterative Language Planning: How Parameterized World Models Reduce Hallucination Propagation in LLM Agents

Xinyuan Song, Zekun Cai

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27806

Authors: Xinyuan Song, Zekun Cai

Abstract:

World models for language agents come in two useful forms. An agent-based world model calls an LLM API and reasons flexibly in language, but its errors appear as hallucinated state changes that are hard to score with ordinary regression losses. A parameterized world model is a trained transition predictor; its errors are easier to measure with quantities such as NodeMSE, delta accuracy, and validity accuracy, but it is usually weaker as a standalone planner. We compare these two families on four graph-structured planning benchmarks and introduce operational hallucination metrics for the agent-based case. The comparison motivates \textbf{Grounded Iterative Language Planning} (GILP), which trains only a small parameterized backbone and combines it with API-based agent reasoning. The backbone supplies valid actions, predicted state deltas, risk, and value; the LLM drafts an action and imagined delta; and a consistency gate asks for revision when the two disagree. On real GPT-4o-mini calls, GILP reduces hallucinated-state rate from 0.176 to 0.035. In calibrated simulator ablations, it raises success from 0.668 to 0.838 while adding only ~22% extra LLM calls.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces Grounded Iterative Language Planning (GILP), a framework that combines parameterized world models with LLM-based reasoning to significantly reduce hallucination propagation in planning agents.

Core Idea: By using a trained parameterized backbone to provide ground truth constraints (valid actions, state deltas, and risk), the system can detect and correct hallucinations generated by the LLM's flexible but error-prone reasoning.

Technique: The technique employs a consistency gate that compares the LLM's imagined state changes against the backbone's predicted deltas, triggering a revision loop when discrepancies occur.

Pipeline: Initial state and goal β†’ LLM drafts action and imagined delta β†’ Parameterized backbone predicts valid actions and state deltas β†’ Consistency gate compares outputs β†’ Revision loop (if inconsistent) β†’ Final validated action and state update.

Methodology: The authors compared agent-based and parameterized world models across four graph-structured planning benchmarks and evaluated GILP using real GPT-4o-mini calls and calibrated simulator ablations.

Results: GILP reduced the hallucinated-state rate from 0.176 to 0.035 on GPT-4o-mini and increased success rates from 0.668 to 0.838 with only a ~22% increase in LLM calls.

Limitations: The study focuses on graph-structured planning benchmarks and does not fully explore the scalability of the consistency gate in highly complex, non-structured environments.

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5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
ATOD: Annealed Turn-aware On-policy Distillation for Multi-turn Autonomous Agents

Qitai Tan, Zefang Zong, Yang Li, Peng Chen

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27814

Authors: Qitai Tan, Zefang Zong, Yang Li, Peng Chen

Abstract:

Training small language-model agents for long-horizon interactive tasks requires both fast imitation and reward-driven improvement. On-policy distillation (OPD) provides dense teacher guidance and typically improves rapidly in the early stage, but its gains saturate once the student approaches the teacher, limiting the final performance ceiling. Reinforcement learning (RL) directly optimizes environment rewards and encourages exploratory improvement toward a higher reward-defined ceiling, but sparse and delayed feedback makes early-stage learning much less efficient than OPD. In this paper, we propose ATOD (Annealed Turn-aware On-policy Distillation), a hybrid online distillation algorithm that explicitly exploits this complementarity. (1) ATOD uses an annealed OPD-RL schedule: OPD dominates early training to approach teacher-level behavior, while RL is gradually strengthened to drive reward-based exploration. (2) ATOD introduces Turn-level Disagreement-Uncertainty Reweighting (T-DUR), which softly amplifies high-utility turns and improves dense supervision in long trajectories. Experiments on ALFWorld, WebShop, and Search-QA show that ATOD consistently outperforms competing post-training baselines: across the three student sizes, ATOD improves average success rate by 3.03 points over OPD and 23.62 points over GRPO, while surpassing the corresponding teacher models by 2.16 points.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces ATOD, a hybrid online distillation algorithm that combines the rapid early-stage learning of On-policy Distillation (OPD) with the high-ceiling exploration of Reinforcement Learning (RL) for multi-turn autonomous agents.

Core Idea: ATOD exploits the complementarity between dense teacher guidance and sparse environment rewards by using an annealed schedule to transition from imitation to exploration.

Technique: The method employs an annealed OPD-RL schedule and a Turn-level Disagreement-Uncertainty Reweighting (T-DUR) mechanism to prioritize high-utility turns in long trajectories.

Pipeline: Multi-turn environment interactions β†’ Annealed OPD-RL training with T-DUR reweighting β†’ Optimized small language-model agent

Methodology: The framework uses OPD to quickly reach teacher-level behavior and gradually increases the weight of RL to surpass the teacher's performance. T-DUR is used to provide denser supervision by amplifying turns with high disagreement or uncertainty.

Results: ATOD outperformed OPD by 3.03 points and GRPO by 23.62 points in average success rate across ALFWorld, WebShop, and Search-QA, even surpassing the teacher models by 2.16 points.

Limitations: The paper does not explicitly detail the specific hyperparameter sensitivity of the annealing schedule or the computational overhead of calculating T-DUR in real-time.

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4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
When Does Personality Composition Matter for Multi-Agent LLM Teams?

Aryan Keluskar, Amrita Bhattacharjee, Huan Liu

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27443

Authors: Aryan Keluskar, Amrita Bhattacharjee, Huan Liu

Abstract:

Personality prompting shapes how large language models communicate, yet whether these behavioral shifts affect objective task outcomes remains under-explored. Prior work shows that agents prompted with low agreeableness produce adversarial language, while those prompted with high agreeableness become cooperative, but the relationship between communication style and task performance has not been systematically examined across multiple domains. In this work, we investigate whether personality composition matters for multi-agent team performance by manipulating personality traits across frontier LLMs on three task domains: structured coding, open-ended research collaboration, and competitive bargaining. We find that personality effects depend critically on task structure. In coding tasks, low agreeableness leads to large communication shifts that have little effect on milestone completion. In open-ended collaboration and bargaining, the same manipulation substantially degrades performance. We discuss implications for multi-agent system design and the limits of personality manipulation.

Insights

Contribution: The paper systematically investigates how personality prompting affects the objective task performance of multi-agent LLM teams across different task structures. It identifies that personality impacts are task-dependent, showing significant performance degradation in open-ended tasks but negligible effects in structured coding.

Core Idea: Personality traits in LLMs influence communication styles, but these behavioral shifts do not universally translate to changes in task success. The impact of personality is moderated by the degree of structure within the task domain.

Technique: The researchers used personality prompting to manipulate specific traits (like agreeableness) across frontier LLMs and measured the resulting communication patterns and task outcomes.

Pipeline: Personality prompts β†’ Multi-agent interaction β†’ Communication analysis & Task performance evaluation

Methodology: The study manipulated personality traits across frontier LLMs and evaluated team performance across three distinct domains: structured coding, open-ended research collaboration, and competitive bargaining.

Results: Low agreeableness caused large communication shifts but had little effect on coding milestones; however, the same manipulation substantially degraded performance in open-ended collaboration and bargaining tasks.

Limitations: The study highlights the limits of personality manipulation as a tool for performance optimization and leaves open questions regarding the specific mechanisms of personality-driven failure in unstructured tasks.

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Computing Systems

3/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)cs.ARcs.CEcs.ETRobotics (cs.RO) 29 Jun 2026
AI-Driven Synthesis for High-Tech System Design: Automating Innovation

Luuk Oerlemans, Steven Westerhof, Theo Hofman

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.28126

Authors: Luuk Oerlemans, Steven Westerhof, Theo Hofman

Abstract:

This article addresses the combinatorial complexity inherent in modern high-tech system design by presenting automation-in-design (AiD) as a transformative paradigm. We propose computational design synthesis (CDS), a framework utilising deep learning and generative AI to automate the creation of novel systems. Two case studies (e-drive system design and spatial dimensioning problem) serve as proof-points for this approach. The AI-driven methods used in the case studies represent a fundamental shift in engineering, advancing from simulation-based optimisation towards autonomous design with minimal human supervision.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces automation-in-design (AiD) and a computational design synthesis (CDS) framework to manage the combinatorial complexity of high-tech system design. It shifts the engineering paradigm from manual simulation-based optimization toward autonomous design with minimal human supervision.

Core Idea: The core idea is to leverage generative AI and deep learning to automate the synthesis of novel systems, allowing for the exploration of vast design spaces that are too complex for traditional human-led methods.

Technique: The authors utilize deep learning and generative AI models to perform computational design synthesis across different engineering domains.

Pipeline: Complex system requirements and constraints β†’ Deep learning-based computational design synthesis (CDS) β†’ Novel, optimized system designs

Methodology: The research employs a framework-based approach validated through two specific case studies: e-drive system design and a spatial dimensioning problem.

Results: The case studies serve as proof-points demonstrating that AI-driven methods can successfully generate novel systems and navigate complex design spaces autonomously.

Limitations: The paper focuses on the paradigm shift and initial proof-of-concept, leaving open questions regarding the scalability of these autonomous methods across all engineering disciplines.

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General

3/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
AI-Model Network: Concept, Current State and Future

Li Zhetao, Zeng Xiyu, Wang Jianhui, Xiao Yong, Liu Zhongren, Wu Junru, Lai Junjie, Huang Jijun, Long Saiqin

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27382

Authors: Li Zhetao, Zeng Xiyu, Wang Jianhui, Xiao Yong, Liu Zhongren, Wu Junru, Lai Junjie, Huang Jijun, Long Saiqin

Abstract:

While the primary function of computers lies in computation and processing, the core value of the Internet is rooted in sharing and collaboration. Computers create the Internet, and the Internet empowers the value of computers. The rapid development of the Internet, cloud computing, and big data is pushing artificial intelligence into the era of large models (LMs). However, the practical application of LMs is currently hindered by high training costs and deployment complexities, driving a shift toward lightweight, private, and domain-specific models. With the rapid proliferation and wide distribution of heterogeneous models, enabling effective interaction and collaboration among them has emerged as a critical bottleneck that urgently needs to be addressed in LM development. Drawing inspiration from the development of the Internet, this paper proposes the concept, vision, and system architecture of world wide AI-model network (AI-ModelNet). It is a novel paradigm that achieves interconnection, capability sharing, and collaborative reasoning by establishing pathways between models. We first briefly review the current state of single-model and multi-model research. Subsequently, the systemic vision and hierarchical architecture of AI-ModelNet are articulated, followed by validation of the framework's feasibility through a prototype system and diverse application cases. Finally, key directions for future research are discussed preliminarily.

Insights

Contribution: The paper proposes the 'AI-ModelNet' concept, a novel paradigm for a world-wide network of interconnected AI models that enables capability sharing and collaborative reasoning.

Core Idea: Inspired by the Internet's architecture, the authors argue that the future of Large Language Models (LLMs) lies in a decentralized network of heterogeneous models rather than isolated single-model systems.

Technique: The authors establish a hierarchical system architecture that creates pathways between diverse models to facilitate interaction, resource sharing, and distributed problem-solving.

Pipeline: Heterogeneous models β†’ Interconnection pathways β†’ Collaborative reasoning and capability sharing

Methodology: The research combines a conceptual framework review with the design of a systemic hierarchical architecture, validated through a prototype system and various application cases.

Results: The paper demonstrates the feasibility of the AI-ModelNet framework through a prototype system and validates its ability to handle diverse application cases through collaborative reasoning.

Limitations: The paper identifies the current bottleneck of high training costs and deployment complexities, and notes that specific future research directions for the network are still preliminary.

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3/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)Machine Learning (cs.LG) 29 Jun 2026
Lifted Causal Inference

Malte Luttermann, Tanya Braun, Ralf M\"oller, Marcel Gehrke

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.28024

Authors: Malte Luttermann, Tanya Braun, Ralf M\"oller, Marcel Gehrke

Abstract:

Lifted inference exploits indistinguishabilities in probabilistic graphical models by using a representative for indistinguishable objects, thereby speeding up query answering while maintaining exact answers. In this article, we show how lifting can be applied to efficiently compute causal effects in relational domains. More specifically, we introduce parametric causal factor graphs (PCFGs) to incorporate causal knowledge in lifted models and give a formal semantics of interventions therein. We further present the Lifted Causal Inference (LCI) algorithm to compute causal effects on a lifted level, thereby drastically speeding up causal inference compared to propositional inference, e.g., in causal Bayesian networks. In addition, we present partially directed parametric causal factor graphs (PD-PCFGs) as a generalisation of PCFGs to handle partial causal knowledge and extend LCI to perform lifted causal inference in a PD-PCFG, thereby extending the applicability of lifted causal inference to a broader range of models requiring less prior knowledge about causal relationships.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces Lifted Causal Inference (LCI) and Parametric Causal Factor Graphs (PCFGs) to efficiently compute causal effects in relational domains by exploiting object indistinguishability.

Core Idea: By applying lifting techniques to causal inference, the authors aim to maintain exact answers while drastically reducing computational complexity compared to standard propositional inference.

Technique: The authors develop PCFGs to incorporate causal knowledge and PD-PCFGs to handle partial causal knowledge, alongside the LCI algorithm for lifted-level causal computation.

Pipeline: Relational causal models (PCFGs/PD-PCFGs) β†’ Lifted Causal Inference (LCI) algorithm β†’ Efficiently computed causal effects

Methodology: The authors provide a formal semantics for interventions in PCFGs and extend the LCI algorithm to handle both full and partial causal knowledge in relational structures.

Results: The LCI algorithm drastically speeds up causal inference compared to propositional inference in causal Bayesian networks while maintaining exactness.

Limitations: The applicability is currently focused on relational domains where lifting is possible, and the extent of speedup depends on the degree of object indistinguishability in the model.

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LLM

4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)Machine Learning (cs.LG) 29 Jun 2026
Odyssey: Constructing Verifiable Local Truth-Preserving Foundation Models

Sridhar Mahadevan

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27593

Authors: Sridhar Mahadevan

Abstract:

We introduce a categorical framework called ODYSSEY for constructing verifiable, local truth-preserving foundation models as compositions of foundries: building-block architectural components that specify a cover of local contexts, local representation families, restriction maps, gluing rules, obstruction policies, update obligations, and human-facing views. A foundry is an organized sheaf of knowledge that carries within it an argumentation component. Concrete foundries are built from generic foundries such as evidence/argument, operational decision, institutional/financial, market meaning, scientific challenge, research-program, assistant-build, and evaluation-harness foundries. Universal Foundry Learning (UFL) formalizes foundry construction as a composition of left and right Kan extensions, with left Kan extension rolling local artifacts into candidate foundries and right Kan extension enforcing the restriction, gluing, obstruction, and argumentation conditions required for promotion. Foundry SQL (FSQL) is a small typed query surface for slicing maintained foundry artifacts that uses TICKET (Topos Integration using Causal Kan Extension Transformers) certification for admitting external or pre-built models into durable ODYSSEY state. ODYSSEY is fully implemented and tested across a wide spectrum of concrete foundries, showing that the same categorical machinery supports domain construction, artifact replay, sheaf diagnostics, grounded Toulmin/local-LLM scrutiny, residual-obstruction ledgers, and optimized TICKET-compatible causal-claim extraction across heterogeneous sources. This paper is to be presented as a 2.5 hour tutorial at ICML 2026. The tutorial home page is at https://bit.ly/4ajS0nA.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces ODYSSEY, a categorical framework for constructing verifiable, local truth-preserving foundation models by composing modular building blocks called 'foundries'.

Core Idea: Knowledge is modeled as an organized sheaf of information that carries internal argumentation, allowing for the composition of complex models from smaller, verifiable local contexts.

Technique: The framework utilizes Universal Foundry Learning (UFL), which formalizes foundry construction through left and right Kan extensions to manage artifact rolling and condition enforcement.

Pipeline: Local artifacts β†’ Left Kan extension (candidate foundry) β†’ Right Kan extension (condition enforcement) β†’ ODYSSEY state (verifiable foundation model)

Methodology: The authors developed a categorical machinery to manage restriction maps, gluing rules, and obstruction policies, implemented via Foundry SQL (FSQL) and TICKET certification.

Results: The framework successfully supports domain construction, artifact replay, sheaf diagnostics, grounded Toulmin scrutiny, and causal-claim extraction across heterogeneous sources.

Limitations: The paper focuses on the theoretical and architectural framework; specific scalability limits for extremely large-scale heterogeneous data integration remain an area for further exploration.

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4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)Computation and Language (cs.CL)Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV) 29 Jun 2026
Verifiable Geometry Problem Solving: Solver-Driven Autoformalization and Theorem Proposing

Can Li, Ting Zhang, Junbo Zhao, Hua Huang

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27926

Authors: Can Li, Ting Zhang, Junbo Zhao, Hua Huang

Abstract:

Geometry Problem Solving have increasingly adopt the neuro-symbolic paradigm, combining neural intuition with symbolic rigor. However, current frameworks suffer from severe bottlenecks in two core stages: autoformalization, which treats multimodal translation as a static task decoupled from downstream solver compatibility, and theorem prediction, where solvers frequently hit a deductive impasse due to fixed rule libraries. To address these, we propose SD-GPS, a solver-driven framework that treats the symbolic solver as an execution oracle throughout both formalization and deduction. First, Solver-Driven Autoformalization unifies supervised formal-language adaptation and solvability-guided reinforcement learning into a single module built on QwenVL3-2B, making executability the central training signal. Second, Verified Theorem Proposing introduces an impasse-aware agent that proposes local auxiliary lemmas from current proof states, ensuring soundness by filtering all proposals through symbolic verification. Empirical evaluations on Geometry3K and PGPS9K demonstrate that SD-GPS consistently outperforms existing MLLM, neural, and neuro-symbolic methods across standard completion, multiple-choice, and cross-modal reference regimes, proving that closing the loop between multimodal perception and symbolic execution significantly improves geometric reasoning, offering profound insights into how neural agents can be grounded by formal systems to achieve verifiable problem-solving capabilities.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces SD-GPS, a solver-driven framework that integrates symbolic solvers as execution oracles to bridge the gap between multimodal perception and formal geometric reasoning.

Core Idea: By treating the symbolic solver as a continuous feedback mechanism, the framework ensures that both the initial autoformalization and the subsequent theorem deduction are grounded in executable logic.

Technique: The framework employs Solver-Driven Autoformalization using reinforcement learning for executability and an impasse-aware agent for Verified Theorem Proposing.

Pipeline: Geometry Problem (Image/Text) β†’ Solver-Driven Autoformalization (QwenVL3-2B) β†’ Symbolic Solver Execution β†’ Impasse-Aware Theorem Proposing β†’ Verified Proof

Methodology: The authors combine supervised formal-language adaptation with solvability-guided reinforcement learning, while using a verification-filtered agent to propose local auxiliary lemmas during deductive impasses.

Results: SD-GPS consistently outperforms existing MLLM, neural, and neuro-symbolic methods across standard completion, multiple-choice, and cross-modal reference regimes on Geometry3K and PGPS9K datasets.

Limitations: The paper does not explicitly detail the scalability of the impasse-aware agent for extremely complex multi-step proofs or the computational overhead of continuous symbolic verification.

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MLOps

4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
JD Oxygen AI Item Center (Oxygen AIIC) V1: An Industrial-Scale LLM/VLM-Centric Solution for Item Understanding, Management, and Applications

Oxygen AIIC, Chan Long, Chao Liu, Chaofan Chen, Chaohui Dong, Chunyuan Guo, Danping Liu, Debin Liu, Deping Xiang, Fulai Xu, Guangyue Liu, Hao Li, Huichun Hu, Jian Yang, Jianan Wang, Jianbo Zhao, Jiaoyang Li, Jiaxing Wang, Jinglong Li, Jinjin Guo, Jun Fang, Jun Liu, Kai Zhou, Li Wang, Lili Gao, Liying Chen, Luning Yang, Mengdi Zhou, Pengzhang Liu, Qi Lv, Qianyun Wang, Qixia Jiang, Ruyue Li, Shimu Liang, Shuxing Wang, Sijie Zhang, Siqi Li, Tianhao Gao, Wang Ke, Weihu Huang, Wencan Lai, Wenjie Zhang, Xiaohui Zhang, Xiaojing Dong, Ya Liu, Yifeng Zhang, Yixiang Wang, Yongtai Zhang, Yongyi Liao, Zhaoru Chen, Zhen Chen, Zhiyong Ma, Zhiyuan Liu, Zhongwei Liu, Ziyan Xing

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.28070

Authors: Oxygen AIIC, Chan Long, Chao Liu, Chaofan Chen, Chaohui Dong, Chunyuan Guo, Danping Liu, Debin Liu, Deping Xiang, Fulai Xu, Guangyue Liu, Hao Li, Huichun Hu, Jian Yang, Jianan Wang, Jianbo Zhao, Jiaoyang Li, Jiaxing Wang, Jinglong Li, Jinjin Guo, Jun Fang, Jun Liu, Kai Zhou, Li Wang, Lili Gao, Liying Chen, Luning Yang, Mengdi Zhou, Pengzhang Liu, Qi Lv, Qianyun Wang, Qixia Jiang, Ruyue Li, Shimu Liang, Shuxing Wang, Sijie Zhang, Siqi Li, Tianhao Gao, Wang Ke, Weihu Huang, Wencan Lai, Wenjie Zhang, Xiaohui Zhang, Xiaojing Dong, Ya Liu, Yifeng Zhang, Yixiang Wang, Yongtai Zhang, Yongyi Liao, Zhaoru Chen, Zhen Chen, Zhiyong Ma, Zhiyuan Liu, Zhongwei Liu, Ziyan Xing

Abstract:

JD.com, one of the world's largest e-commerce platforms, serves over 700 million active users and millions of merchants, with a catalog of tens of billions of SKUs. At this scale, high-quality, structured item knowledge underpins a better consumer experience, lower management costs, and higher operational efficiency-yet producing and serving it poses three industrial-scale challenges: fast-emerging concepts, high-quality knowledge production for massive SKUs, and diverse downstream requirements. To address these challenges, we present the JD Oxygen AI Item Center (Oxygen AIIC), an industrial-scale platform built on LLMs/VLMs for item-knowledge production and service. Oxygen AIIC is built around four core pillars: (i) ontology engineering driven by efficient human-AI collaboration, which supports the dynamic evolution and agile expansion of an ontology with millions of entries; (ii) a "Semantic Search then Discrimination"(S2D) knowledge identification architecture that, combined with throughput improvement strategies, enables scalable, extensible, and high-throughput AI Item Library production for tens of billions of SKUs; (iii) self-evolving item-understanding LLMs/VLMs that improve in a stable and controllable manner, enabling knowledge production with 94.2% precision and 82.8% recall; and (iv) a unified item tunnel that serves as the data and service hub. Oxygen AIIC now covers tens of thousands of JD categories and processes hundreds of millions of item updates per day on Huawei Ascend NPUs. It has accumulated hundreds of billions of item-knowledge assets. Deployed across core business scenarios-including search, recommendation, operations, category planning-Oxygen AIIC has delivered measurable gains at scale. Search-traffic coverage reaches 80.4%, item-information quality issues drop by 37%, the automated fill rate of core attributes during item listing exceeds 80%.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces Oxygen AIIC, an industrial-scale platform leveraging LLMs and VLMs to automate the production and management of structured item knowledge for tens of billions of SKUs on JD.com.

Core Idea: The system addresses the challenges of fast-emerging concepts and massive scale by combining human-AI collaborative ontology engineering with a high-throughput 'Semantic Search then Discrimination' architecture.

Technique: The core techniques include a 'Semantic Search then Discrimination' (S2D) architecture for knowledge identification and self-evolving LLMs/VLMs for stable, controllable knowledge production.

Pipeline: Raw item data and emerging concepts β†’ Human-AI ontology engineering & S2D knowledge identification β†’ Self-evolving LLM/VLM processing β†’ Unified item tunnel for downstream services (search, recommendation, operations).

Methodology: The methodology integrates four pillars: dynamic ontology engineering, a scalable S2D identification architecture, self-evolving models for high-precision extraction, and a unified data hub.

Results: Achieved 94.2% precision and 82.8% recall; search-traffic coverage reached 80.4%, item-information quality issues dropped by 37%, and automated attribute fill rate exceeded 80%.

Limitations: The paper focuses on industrial deployment and does not extensively detail the specific architectural constraints of the underlying self-evolving models or the long-term maintenance costs of the massive ontology.

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Multimodal Learning

4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
MER-R1: Multimodal Emotion Reasoning via Slow-Fast Thinking Synergy

Zhiyuan Han, Beier Zhu, Wenwen Tong, Chengwei Qin, Xinyi Wang, Jiayu Zhang, Jiangnan Chen, Hewei Guo, Dongchuan Ran, Lewei Lu, Xun Yang

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27652

Authors: Zhiyuan Han, Beier Zhu, Wenwen Tong, Chengwei Qin, Xinyi Wang, Jiayu Zhang, Jiangnan Chen, Hewei Guo, Dongchuan Ran, Lewei Lu, Xun Yang

Abstract:

We find that explicit reasoning does not necessarily translate into better multimodal emotion recognition (MER) accuracy, even though it makes predictions more interpretable. Specifically, for reasoning-based MLLMs, fast thinking by triggering direct answers often outperforms slow thinking after deliberative reasoning. Our empirical analyses show that fast thinking improves recall with broader and more confident predictions, whereas slow thinking favors precision through conservative filtering of incorrect categories. Building on these insights, we propose MER-R1, a reinforcement learning framework that turns slow-fast complementarity into explicit optimization. Dual-objective disentanglement separates recall and precision into two optimization signals, allowing them to be jointly optimized rather than traded off against each other. Slow-fast confidence calibration further aligns the final slow-thinking answer with fast-thinking intuition, strengthening correct emotions while suppressing incorrect ones. In this way, MER-R1 unifies the recall-oriented intuition of fast thinking with the precision-oriented selectivity of slow thinking. We further provide theoretical justification for this synergy, showing that it mitigates variance-induced interference during optimization. Extensive experiments on MER-UniBench and MME-Emotion show that MER-R1 achieves state-of-the-art performance and makes reasoning genuinely benefit emotion recognition.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces MER-R1, a reinforcement learning framework that optimizes multimodal emotion recognition by synergizing the complementary strengths of 'fast' (recall-oriented) and 'slow' (precision-oriented) thinking.

Core Idea: Instead of viewing deliberative reasoning as a direct path to accuracy, the authors propose that fast thinking provides broad intuition while slow thinking provides conservative filtering, and these two should be jointly optimized.

Technique: The framework employs dual-objective disentanglement to separate recall and precision into distinct optimization signals and uses slow-fast confidence calibration to align reasoning with intuition.

Pipeline: Multimodal Input β†’ Fast Thinking (Intuition) & Slow Thinking (Deliberation) β†’ Dual-Objective Disentanglement & Confidence Calibration β†’ Final Emotion Prediction

Methodology: The authors use a reinforcement learning framework to optimize the synergy between fast and slow thinking, providing theoretical justification for how this mitigates variance-induced interference.

Results: MER-R1 achieves state-of-the-art performance on MER-UniBench and MME-Emotion benchmarks, successfully making reasoning beneficial for emotion recognition accuracy.

Limitations: The paper does not extensively explore the computational overhead of dual-path reasoning or the scalability of the framework to more complex, nuanced emotional states.

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NLP

3/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)Computation and Language (cs.CL)Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)Information Retrieval (cs.IR)Machine Learning (cs.LG) 29 Jun 2026
DysLexLens: A Low-Resource LLM Framework for Analysing Dyslexic Learners Insights from Online Forums

Dana Rezazadegan, Atie Kia, Phongpadid Nandavong, Dominique Carlon, Jeremy Nguyen, Abhik Banerjee, James Marshall, Anthony McCosker, Yong-Bin Kang

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27619

Authors: Dana Rezazadegan, Atie Kia, Phongpadid Nandavong, Dominique Carlon, Jeremy Nguyen, Abhik Banerjee, James Marshall, Anthony McCosker, Yong-Bin Kang

Abstract:

Dyslexic learners increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support reading, writing, organisation, and study-related tasks. However, their lived experiences with these tools remain largely underexamined. This paper proposes DysLexLens, a low-resource LLM framework, designed to analyse dyslexic learners experience with AI through online forum discussions. DysLexLens is designed as an end-to-end, evidence-traceable architecture which transforms noisy social media posts into a dictionary-driven corpora, provides knowledge-graph (KG)-based question reasoning, generates verifiable query responses, and enables response evaluation through quantitative and human-grounded assessment. DysLexLens has four key features. First, it employs a dictionary-driven filtering method to construct a more focused Reddit corpus on dyslexia and AI, filtering out noisy and weakly related posts to improve the relevance of data collected from low-resource forum contexts. Second, it integrates LLM-assisted semantic analysis with KG-based query reasoning to uncover meaningful patterns. Third, it has quantitative evaluation metrics (RAGAS and Query Robustness) to measure LLM-generated response performance. Fourth, it provides structured qualitative validation guidelines for assessing response quality, with a specific focus on hallucination and evidence alignment. We demonstrate the effectiveness of DysLexLens using dyslexia-related Reddit forum data and 30 questions. The results show its potential generalisability to other low-resource forum data contexts. DysLexLens, sample data, questions and evaluation results are available at Github to support reproducibility.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces DysLexLens, an end-to-end, evidence-traceable framework designed to analyze the lived experiences of dyslexic learners using AI tools from noisy online forum data.

Core Idea: The framework addresses the challenge of extracting meaningful insights from low-resource, noisy social media contexts by combining dictionary-driven filtering with knowledge-graph-based reasoning.

Technique: It utilizes a dictionary-driven filtering method, LLM-assisted semantic analysis, and Knowledge Graph (KG)-based query reasoning to ensure verifiable and high-quality responses.

Pipeline: Noisy social media posts β†’ Dictionary-driven filtering & KG-based reasoning β†’ Verifiable query responses & multi-dimensional evaluation

Methodology: The researchers developed a four-feature architecture involving corpus construction, semantic analysis, quantitative performance metrics (RAGAS, Query Robustness), and structured qualitative validation.

Results: The framework successfully demonstrated effectiveness on dyslexia-related Reddit data and 30 specific questions, showing potential for generalizability to other low-resource forum contexts.

Limitations: The study focuses specifically on dyslexia-related data, leaving the framework's performance on other specific neurodivergent conditions or different types of social media platforms as an area for further exploration.

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3/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
RelBall: Relation Ball with Quaternion Rotation for Knowledge Graph Completion

Yike Liu, Peijia Xie, Chao He, Huiling Zhu

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27967

Authors: Yike Liu, Peijia Xie, Chao He, Huiling Zhu

Abstract:

Real-world knowledge graphs are often incomplete, lacking many valid facts. Knowledge Graph Completion (KGC) aims to predict missing links using known triples, thereby enhancing graph coverage. A key challenge is modeling diverse relational patterns such as symmetry, antisymmetry, inversion, composition and semantic hierarchy. Existing models such as RotatE can capture symmetric, antisymmetric, inverse, and commutative composition patterns, yet struggle with non-commutative composition. Rotate3D addresses this by introducing non-commutativity via three-dimensional rotations, but still fails to capture the semantic hierarchies prevalent in knowledge graphs. Moreover, both models cannot effectively model one-to-many relations. To overcome these limitations, we propose RelBall, which extends Rotate3D with two innovations. First, our model introduces modulus transformation to model hierarchies, driving abstract concepts toward smaller moduli and concrete instances toward larger ones. Second, it introduces a tail-centric relation ball to model one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relations. RelBall offers the following advantages: (1) coverage of all relational patterns, including the ones mentioned above; (2) an interpretable hierarchical representation where the modulus directly reflect semantic levels; (3) support for one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relations. Experiments on multiple datasets demonstrate RelBall's competitive link prediction performance against various baselines.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces RelBall, a new Knowledge Graph Completion (KGC) model that captures non-commutative composition, semantic hierarchies, and diverse cardinality patterns (one-to-many, many-to-many).

Core Idea: RelBall extends the Rotate3D framework by incorporating modulus transformations to represent semantic levels and a tail-centric relation ball to handle complex relational cardinalities.

Technique: The model utilizes quaternion rotations for 3D spatial modeling combined with a modulus-based mapping to differentiate between abstract and concrete concepts.

Pipeline: Knowledge Graph Triples β†’ Quaternion Rotation & Modulus Transformation β†’ Tail-centric Relation Ball β†’ Link Prediction Score

Methodology: The methodology involves mapping entities to 3D space where relations are rotations, using the modulus of the position to encode hierarchy and a specific ball structure to accommodate various mapping types.

Results: RelBall demonstrates competitive link prediction performance across multiple datasets and provides an interpretable representation where the modulus directly reflects semantic levels.

Limitations: The abstract does not explicitly state specific limitations, but the model's complexity in handling high-dimensional quaternion rotations may present computational overhead compared to simpler models.

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3/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
Ontology-Guided Evidence Path Inference for Multi-hop Knowledge Graph Question Answering

Yongxue Shan, Meihan Wu, Cundi Fang, Jie Peng, Xiaodong Wang

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.28076

Authors: Yongxue Shan, Meihan Wu, Cundi Fang, Jie Peng, Xiaodong Wang

Abstract:

Knowledge graph question answering (KGQA) aims to answer natural-language questions by reasoning over structured facts. Existing multi-hop KGQA methods mainly rely on topic-centered expansion, which faces two key challenges: the search space rapidly grows with noisy mixed-type paths, and retrieved paths may fail to satisfy the semantic constraints of complex questions. To address these challenges, we propose OPI, an ontology-guided evidence path inference framework for multi-hop KGQA. OPI introduces a relation-centric ontology graph to capture the head-tail type constraints of relations, providing a compact interface for answer-side constraints. Based on this ontology graph, OPI first introduces a bidirectional retrieval mechanism by mapping the predicted answer type to compatible final-hop relations and combining topic-side prefix expansion with answer-side final-hop matching, thereby suppressing noisy mixed-type expansion. OPI further adopts an iterative refinement strategy to reassess retrieved paths and candidate answers under the question context, filtering type-compatible but question-irrelevant evidence for more reliable answer prediction. Experiments on WebQSP, CWQ, and MetaQA show that OPI substantially reduces the search space, improves Hit@1/F1 by 4.6/5.0 points on WebQSP and 8.9/3.3 points on CWQ over the strongest prior results, and achieves near-saturated Hit@1 on MetaQA with the retrieval module alone.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces OPI, an ontology-guided framework that addresses the issues of search space explosion and semantic constraint violations in multi-hop KGQA.

Core Idea: By leveraging a relation-centric ontology graph, the model constrains the search space using head-tail type requirements and filters out noisy, irrelevant paths.

Technique: The framework employs a bidirectional retrieval mechanism combining topic-side prefix expansion with answer-side final-hop matching, followed by an iterative refinement strategy.

Pipeline: Natural language question β†’ Ontology-guided bidirectional retrieval β†’ Iterative path/answer refinement β†’ Final answer prediction

Methodology: OPI maps predicted answer types to compatible final-hop relations via an ontology graph and iteratively filters evidence based on question context.

Results: Improved Hit@1/F1 by 4.6/5.0 points on WebQSP and 8.9/3.3 points on CWQ, while achieving near-saturated Hit@1 on MetaQA.

Limitations: The paper does not explicitly detail the computational overhead of the iterative refinement step or the scalability of the ontology graph for extremely large, heterogeneous schemas.

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RL

5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
Tandem Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards

Difan Jiao, Raghav Singhal, Robert West, Ashton Anderson

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.28166

Authors: Difan Jiao, Raghav Singhal, Robert West, Ashton Anderson

Abstract:

Reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR) has significantly improved the reasoning capability of large language models, reaching expert or even superhuman performance in domains such as competition math. However, whether weaker agents and humans can actually harness this capability is far less certain, with RLVR documented to drift reasoning toward idiosyncratic patterns such as poor readability and language mixing. Tandem training is a recently introduced paradigm that targets this compatibility problem: a trained, stronger senior co-generates each rollout with a frozen, weaker junior, and the two are rewarded as a team, so the senior is pushed to reason in ways the junior can follow. Yet this paradigm has so far been demonstrated only in proof-of-concept settings, leaving open whether it scales to the long chains of thought of the modern RLVR pipeline. In this work, we propose Tandem Reinforcement Learning (TRL), which carries the tandem training paradigm into RLVR. In TRL, the senior and a frozen junior alternate stochastically to co-generate the reasoning, the resulting generation is rewarded, and the standard GRPO loss is applied to the senior. Training Qwen3-4B-Instruct on competition math, we find that TRL matches vanilla GRPO on solo reasoning capability while three properties emerge together from the same rollout structure: stronger handoff robustness with the junior, reduced distributional drift from the junior, and a chain-of-thought more legible to the junior. Our results demonstrate a promising route for RLVR with practical payoffs in multi-model communication and human compatibility.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces Tandem Reinforcement Learning (TRL), a framework that scales the tandem training paradigm to Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) to improve model compatibility.

Core Idea: By training a 'senior' model to co-generate reasoning chains with a frozen 'junior' model, the senior is incentivized to produce reasoning paths that are more legible and followable by weaker agents.

Technique: The authors employ a stochastic alternation between a trainable senior model and a frozen junior model during rollout generation, applying the GRPO loss to the senior based on the team's joint output.

Pipeline: Input prompt β†’ Stochastic alternation between senior and junior models to co-generate reasoning β†’ Verifiable reward calculation β†’ GRPO loss application on senior model β†’ Optimized senior model.

Methodology: The researchers trained a Qwen3-4B-Instruct model on competition math using TRL, comparing its performance and output characteristics against vanilla GRPO.

Results: TRL matched vanilla GRPO in solo reasoning capability while simultaneously achieving stronger handoff robustness, reduced distributional drift from the junior model, and improved chain-of-thought legibility.

Limitations: The study focuses on competition math and does not fully explore the scalability of this tandem approach across all types of complex reasoning tasks or diverse junior model architectures.

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4/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
Understanding Rollout Error in Graph World Models

Xinyuan Song, Zekun Cai

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27780

Authors: Xinyuan Song, Zekun Cai

Abstract:

World models are often used for planning by rolling learned dynamics forward. Many planning environments, however, are not vectors or images; they are graphs of agents, tools, skills, routes, and dependencies. In these settings, a local prediction error may stay local or spread through the graph, and the failure mode changes again when edges are predicted rather than fixed. This paper studies long-horizon rollout error in Graph World Models (GWMs). We formulate a unified fixed-edge and dynamic-edge GWM framework with action nodes for node-, edge-, and graph-level decisions. We develop graph-valued rollout bounds that separate topology-induced amplification from model-induced amplification, and we introduce a joint node-edge operator for dynamic-edge rollouts. Guided by the analysis, we propose Error-Aware GWM, which combines spectral regularization, rollout consistency, and critical-node weighting. Across synthetic topologies and heterogeneous agent-graph testbeds, rollout error and planning regret grow with horizon, dynamic-edge training is needed when structure evolves, and Error-Aware GWM prevents long-horizon divergence while preserving prediction accuracy. Real-world graph benchmarks clarify the scope of GWMs: they are most useful for dynamic graph rollout and agent planning, while specialized graph models remain strong on static or sparse prediction tasks.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces a unified framework for Graph World Models (GWMs) that accounts for both fixed and dynamic edges, providing the first formal analysis of how rollout errors propagate through graph topologies.

Core Idea: Rollout errors in graph-based environments are amplified by both model inaccuracies and the underlying graph structure, requiring specific regularization to prevent long-horizon divergence.

Technique: The authors develop graph-valued rollout bounds to separate topology-induced from model-induced amplification and propose an Error-Aware GWM using spectral regularization and critical-node weighting.

Pipeline: Graph-based state and action nodes β†’ Joint node-edge operator and rollout bound analysis β†’ Error-Aware GWM with spectral regularization and consistency constraints β†’ Stable long-horizon planning.

Methodology: The study uses a unified framework to analyze node-, edge-, and graph-level decisions, evaluating performance across synthetic topologies and heterogeneous agent-graph testbeds.

Results: Error-Aware GWM successfully prevents long-horizon divergence and reduces planning regret compared to standard models, while demonstrating that dynamic-edge training is essential when graph structures evolve.

Limitations: The scope of GWMs is primarily effective for dynamic graph rollouts and agent planning, whereas specialized graph models may still outperform them on static or sparse prediction tasks.

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Robotics

5/5 Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) 29 Jun 2026
NormAct: A Benchmark for Hidden Social Norm Compliance in Embodied Planning

Shiyun Zhao, Xinwei Song, Tianyu Guo, Xiaomeng Gao, Mingyuan Liu, Xu Han, Yuanyuan Zhang, Zhenliang Zhang, Xue Feng, Bo Dai

Abstract

ArXiv ID: 2606.27826

Authors: Shiyun Zhao, Xinwei Song, Tianyu Guo, Xiaomeng Gao, Mingyuan Liu, Xu Han, Yuanyuan Zhang, Zhenliang Zhang, Xue Feng, Bo Dai

Abstract:

Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) are increasingly deployed as embodied planners in egocentric environments, where task success requires not only achieving instructed goals but also acting in socially appropriate ways. While explicit goals may render certain actions optimal, implicit social norms often impose hidden constraints. Existing evaluations typically focus on explicit goal achievement or direct norm knowledge, seldom assessing whether planners can infer and apply these hidden constraints within action sequences. We introduce NormAct, a benchmark for embodied social-norm interactions that evaluates plans on Goal Achievement, Norm Compliance, and overall Task Success. NormAct uniquely embeds hidden norms within ordinary tasks, testing whether models can realize them without explicit instruction. Experiments with state-of-the-art MLLMs (GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.7, Gemini 3 Pro) reveal a significant gap: models achieve explicit goals in 67.3\% of cases, but comply with hidden norms in only 26.4\%. Cue-condition experiments indicate that this gap stems not from a lack of general social knowledge, but from challenges in activating and grounding relevant norms in context. To address this, we propose NormPerceptor, a context-conditioned cue generator that infers scene-relevant norms prior to planning, increasing Task Success from 24.2\% to 46.7\%. Our results underscore the importance of enabling embodied agents to proactively detect hidden norms, ground them in visual evidence, and integrate them as action-planning constraints. Our benchmark is publicly available at https://huggingface.co/datasets/Caleb196x/NormAct.

Insights

Contribution: The paper introduces NormAct, a new benchmark for evaluating how well embodied planners adhere to hidden social norms, and proposes NormPerceptor to improve norm-aware planning.

Core Idea: Embodied agents must not only achieve explicit goals but also infer and comply with implicit social norms that are not explicitly stated in instructions.

Technique: The authors developed NormPerceptor, a context-conditioned cue generator that identifies and grounds scene-relevant norms before the planning phase begins.

Pipeline: Egocentric visual input β†’ NormPerceptor (cue generation) β†’ Norm-aware planning β†’ Action sequence execution

Methodology: The researchers evaluated state-of-the-art MLLMs on the NormAct benchmark, comparing goal achievement versus norm compliance, and conducted cue-condition experiments to isolate the source of failure.

Results: Models achieved explicit goals in 67.3% of cases but complied with hidden norms in only 26.4%; NormPerceptor improved overall Task Success from 24.2% to 46.7%.

Limitations: The study highlights a significant gap in models' ability to activate and ground relevant norms in context, suggesting a need for better proactive norm detection.

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Tech News

Computer Vision

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LLM

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Speech

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Age verification is just a precursor to automated attribution of speech

The article argues that current age verification systems are a stepping stone toward more invasive automated speech attribution technologies. It explores the privacy implications of identifying individuals through biometric voice data and the potential for systemic surveillance. The piece highlights the shift from simple identity checks to deep technological tracking of personal expression.

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