首次绘制大模型失败地图,揭示错误根源而非仅看对错。
ErrorMap and ErrorAtlas: Charting the Failure Landscape of Large Language Models
- 通过提取模型失败特征,定位错误来源
- 覆盖35个数据集、83个模型,发现常见错误模式
- 适合模型开发者与评测研究者深度调试与选型
大语言模型(LLM)基准测试只能告诉我们模型在何时失败,却无法解释失败原因。一个推理数据集上的错误答案,可能源于格式问题、计算失误或数据噪声,而非推理能力不足。若不分离这些因素,基准测试就不完整,也无法有效指导模型改进。本文提出ErrorMap,首个能够刻画大模型失败原因的方法。它能提取模型的唯一「失败签名」,厘清基准测试的真实度量目标,并扩展错误识别范围以减少盲点。该方法适用于任何模型和数据集,具有通用逻辑。我们将其应用于35个数据集和83个模型,构建出ErrorAtlas——一个模型错误分类体系,揭示了当前研究中被忽视的重复性错误模式,如输出遗漏必要细节、误解问题等。通过将关注点从模型成功转向失败原因,ErrorMap与ErrorAtlas实现更深入的评估,暴露隐藏弱点并引导进步。相比传统任务级指标,本方法提供可全局应用的深层评估层,为模型行为与局限提供更丰富洞察。代码与分类体系已开源,未来将持续更新以适应新模型与新基准。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Large Language Models (LLM) benchmarks tell us when models fail, but not why they fail. A wrong answer on a reasoning dataset may stem from formatting issues, calculation errors, or dataset noise rather than weak reasoning. Without disentangling such causes, benchmarks remain incomplete and cannot reliably guide model improvement. We introduce ErrorMap, the first method to chart the sources of LLM failure. It extracts a model's unique "failure signature", clarifies what benchmarks measure, and broadens error identification to reduce blind spots. This helps developers debug models, aligns benchmark goals with outcomes, and supports informed model selection. ErrorMap works on any model or dataset with the same logic. Applying our method to 35 datasets and 83 models we generate ErrorAtlas, a taxonomy of model errors, revealing recurring failure patterns. ErrorAtlas highlights error types that are currently underexplored in LLM research, such as omissions of required details in the output and question misinterpretation. By shifting focus from where models succeed to why they fail, ErrorMap and ErrorAtlas enable advanced evaluation - one that exposes hidden weaknesses and directs progress. Unlike success, typically measured by task-level metrics, our approach introduces a deeper evaluation layer that can be applied globally across models and tasks, offering richer insights into model behavior and limitations. We make the taxonomy and code publicly available with plans to periodically update ErrorAtlas as new benchmarks and models emerge.
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