arXiv:2605.30085cs.AIcs.CL2026-05被引 1

为语言模型推理过程中的有效步骤提供可信赖的截断边界。

Conformal Certification of Reasoning Trace Prefixes

论文配图:Conformal Certification of Reasoning Trace Prefixes
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 基于步骤级风险代理,动态确定可保留的最长有效推理前缀。
  • 在六大数据集上验证,显著提升下游修复准确率。
  • 适合需要过程监督与错误修复的高可靠性场景。

语言模型的推理过程通常并非全对或全错,而是包含若干有效中间步骤后出现关键错误。现有不确定性量化方法多针对最终答案或完整输出进行认证,无法为推理序列中可安全保留的部分提供统计保障。为此,我们提出 CROP(Conformal Reasoning Output Prefixes),一种无需依赖特定验证器的校准方法,用于清洁前缀认证。给定任意步骤级风险代理,CROP 确定一个校准阈值,并返回最长连续前缀,其步骤风险代理均低于该阈值,将未认证的后缀交由下游审查或修复。在交换性假设下,CROP 严格控制返回前缀包含标注错误的边际概率。在六个带有过程标注的推理数据集上,我们发现标准步骤级指标(如 AUROC)未能充分反映前缀实用性,提示应以认证前缀长度评估验证器性能。此外,CROP 实现了过度保留与不足保留之间的平衡,通过保留有效中间推理、舍弃误导性后缀,提升了下游修复准确率。本工作将前缀认证定位为连接过程监督、拒答与修复的严谨且实用的桥梁。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Language model reasoning traces are rarely all-or-nothing; they frequently contain valid intermediate steps before a critical error occurs. Existing uncertainty quantification methods typically certify final answers or entire responses, failing to provide statistical guarantees for the proportion of a sequential trace that can be safely retained. To address this, we introduce CROP (Conformal Reasoning Output Prefixes), a verifier-agnostic calibration procedure for clean-prefix certification. Given any step-level risk proxy, CROP selects a calibrated threshold and returns the longest contiguous prefix whose step risk proxies remain below it, routing the uncertified suffix for downstream review or repair. Assuming exchangeability, CROP rigorously controls the marginal probability that the returned prefix contains an annotated error. Across six process-labeled reasoning datasets, we demonstrate that standard step-level metrics such as AUROC do not fully capture prefix utility, suggesting verifiers should instead be evaluated by certified prefix length. Furthermore, CROP balances over- and under-withholding, improving downstream repair accuracy by preserving valid intermediate reasoning while discarding misleading suffixes. Ultimately, this work positions prefix certification as a rigorous, practical bridge between process supervision, abstention, and repair.

推理验证不确定性量化前缀认证

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