arXiv:2605.14473cs.CLcs.AI2026-05被引 19

提出诊断RAG是否真依赖检索内容的新方法,揭示模型在知识冲突时的真实决策机制。

Does RAG Know When Retrieval Is Wrong? Diagnosing Context Compliance under Knowledge Conflict

  • 引入上下文分解法,在推理时分离模型对检索内容和先验知识的响应
  • 在错误检索下准确率最低仅15.0%,说明模型常违背检索内容
  • 能识别模型是否被误导,适合关注RAG可信性与可解释性的研究者

检索增强生成(RAG)通常以最终答案正确性评估。在知识冲突场景下,这掩盖了一个关键问题:模型是遵循检索证据、依赖自身参数化先验,还是事后编造理由?我们将其定义为‘上下文合规性’——即即使检索内容与模型先验冲突,仍由检索内容主导回答的机制。本文提出上下文驱动分解(CDD),一种推理时的诊断干预方法,可分别获取上下文响应与先验响应,定位冲突前提,并记录可扰动的决策轨迹。在Epi-Scale压力测试、TruthfulQA概念注入及跨模型重跑中,CDD揭示三种行为:第一,误导性检索会严重降低准确率——在最坏情况的TruthfulQA概念注入探针下,标准RAG准确率仅15.0%;第二,更优答案未必来自相同机制——CDD在Gemini-2.5-Flash上提升对抗准确率,各类Claude模型亦有方向性改善,但仅Gemini对轨迹扰动敏感;第三,显式分解优于冲突感知指令基线,在局部事实冲突任务中表现更稳健,实体替换(88.0% vs 79.3%)与逻辑矛盾(83.2% vs 75.4%)任务优势最明显。我们主张将RAG冲突处理视为可观测性问题。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is usually evaluated by whether the final answer is correct. Under knowledge conflict, this hides a key question: did the model follow retrieved evidence, rely on its parametric prior, or produce a post-hoc rationale? We study this as context compliance, the regime in which retrieved context controls the answer even when it conflicts with the model's prior knowledge. We introduce Context-Driven Decomposition (CDD), an inference-time diagnostic intervention that elicits contextual and prior answers, isolates the conflicting premise, and records a resolution trace that can be perturbed. Across Epi-Scale stress tests, TruthfulQA misconception injection, and cross-model reruns, CDD makes three behaviors visible. First, misleading retrieval can severely degrade accuracy: under a worst-case TruthfulQA misconception-injection probe, Standard RAG reaches only 15.0%. Second, better answers need not share the same mechanism: CDD improves adversarial accuracy on Gemini-2.5-Flash and shows directional gains across Claude variants, yet trace-perturbation sensitivity is high only on Gemini. Third, explicit decomposition improves controlled-conflict robustness over a conflict-aware instruction baseline on localized factual conflicts, with the clearest margins on Entity Swap (88.0% vs 79.3%) and Logical Contradiction (83.2% vs 75.4%). We frame RAG conflict handling as an observability problem.

RAG可解释性知识冲突诊断

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