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LLM 在被训练预测自身准确率时学会不同形式的元认知
论文训练 10 个开放权重 LLM 在回答事实性多选题前预测自身准确率,发现训练后的置信度反映两种不同信号:在接近训练数据的问题上追踪模型真实准确率,在其他领域则追踪输出一致性(答案分布的集中度)。输出一致性追踪在训练早期出现并可跨数据集泛化,准确率追踪出现较晚且局限于训练分布。作者据此指出,校准训练可能无法让模型普遍识别其自信犯下的错误。
AI推荐理由 arXiv 论文,作者为 Nicolas Yax、Stefano Palminteri、Pierre-Yves Oudeyer,摘要明确给出实验设置(训练 10 个开放权重 LLM 在回答事实性多选题前预测自身准确率)和两项可验证发现:训练后的置信度同时反映真实准确率与输出一致性,其中输出一致性追踪在训练早期出现且可跨数据集泛化,准确率追踪出现较晚且局限于训练分布。该结论对 LLM 校准训练的实际效果提出具体限制,即校准训练未必能让模型普遍识别其自信犯下的错误,对模型可靠性与 Agent 自我评估方向有参考价值。局限在于仅基于摘要,未提供具体模型清单、数据集和量化指标,且论文为预印本,未经同行评审。
78
正文
Computer Science > Computation and Language
arXiv:2609.33886 (cs)
[Submitted on 27 Sep 2026]
Title:LLMs learn different forms of metacognition when trained to predict their own accuracy
Authors:Nicolas Yax, Stefano Palminteri, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
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Abstract:Large language models are trained to always produce an answer, regardless of whether they possess the relevant knowledge, which leads them to fabricate facts. Prior work has shown that LLMs' confidence estimates correspond poorly to their actual performance, and that fine-tuning can substantially improve them. However, what models actually learn during such training remains poorly understood. We investigate how LLMs acquire metacognitive monitoring, the ability to know what one knows, by training 10 open-weight LLMs to predict their own accuracy on factual multiple-choice questions before answering them. We find that trained confidence reflects two distinct signals. While on questions close to the training data, it tracks the model's true accuracy, in other domains, it instead tracks output consistency: the concentration of the model's answer distribution. Output consistency tracking emerges early in training and generalizes across datasets, whereas accuracy tracking develops later and remains local to the training distribution. These results suggest that calibration training may not teach models to generally detect errors they commit confidently, and they raise broader questions about the nature of metacognition in artificial systems.
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Computation and Language (cs.CL)
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arXiv:2609.33886 [cs.CL]
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arXiv:2609.33886v1 [cs.CL] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.33886
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From: Nicolas Yax [view email]
[v1]
Sun, 27 Sep 2026 20:02:33 UTC (6,578 KB)
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