LLM能生成有效且公平的策略,替代传统理性假设。
How Strategic Agents Respond: Comparing Analytical Models with LLM-Generated Responses in Strategic Classification
- 用大模型生成策略,不依赖决策规则也能优化表现
- 群体层面策略效果与理论模型相当,甚至更好
- 个体策略更均衡多样,适合真实人类行为研究
当机器学习算法被用于自动化人事决策时,人类代理可能学习并适应其决策策略。战略分类(SC)框架旨在研究这种互动,以构建更可信的ML系统。以往理论模型假设代理完全或近似理性,并通过优化效用响应政策。然而,大模型的普及使得真实代理可能依赖其获取策略建议。本文提出两个问题:(i) 大模型能否在战略分类场景中生成有效且社会负责的策略?(ii) 现有理论模型能否准确描述受大模型影响的代理行为?我们分析了招聘、贷款申请、学校录取、个人收入和公共援助五类关键场景。模拟具有不同特征的代理,使用GPT-4o、GPT-4.1和GPT-5进行特征努力分配建议,并与现有SC理论模型的最佳响应进行比较。结果表明:(i) 即使无法访问决策策略,大模型仍可生成提升得分与资格率的有效策略;(ii) 在群体层面,大模型引导的努力分配策略在得分提升、资格率及公平性指标上与理论模型预测相当甚至更优,说明理论模型仍可作为大模型影响行为的合理代理;(iii) 在个体层面,大模型生成的策略更丰富、更均衡。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
When ML algorithms are deployed to automate human-related decisions, human agents may learn the underlying decision policies and adapt their behavior. Strategic Classification (SC) has emerged as a framework for studying this interaction between agents and decision-makers to design more trustworthy ML systems. Prior theoretical models in SC assume that agents are perfectly or approximately rational and respond to decision policies by optimizing their utility. However, the growing prevalence of LLMs raises the possibility that real-world agents may instead rely on these tools for strategic advice. This shift prompts two questions: (i) Can LLMs generate effective and socially responsible strategies in SC settings? (ii) Can existing SC theoretical models accurately capture agent behavior when agents follow LLM-generated advice? To investigate these questions, we examine five critical SC scenarios: hiring, loan applications, school admissions, personal income, and public assistance programs. We simulate agents with diverse profiles who interact with three commercial LLMs (GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, and GPT-5), following their suggestions on effort allocations on features. We compare the resulting agent behaviors with the best responses in existing SC models. Our findings show that: (i) Even without access to the decision policy, LLMs can generate effective strategies that improve both agents' scores and qualification; (ii) At the population level, LLM-guided effort allocation strategies yield similar or even higher score improvements, qualification rates, and fairness metrics as those predicted by the SC theoretical model, suggesting that the theoretical model may still serve as a reasonable proxy for LLM-influenced behavior; and (iii) At the individual level, LLMs tend to produce more diverse and balanced effort allocations than theoretical models.
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