arXiv:2607.26981cs.CL2026-07

发现大模型普遍倾向乐观判断,且对齐训练会加剧这种偏差。

OptimismBench: Forecasting Bias and the Alignment Effect in Language Model Judgment

  • 用正反场景对比法检测概率判断中的方向性偏差
  • 16个模型中14个偏乐观,仅Anthropic前沿模型例外
  • 模型身份影响远大于语言,适合做模型审计与对齐研究

大语言模型的概率判断正越来越多地影响决策。但系统性偏向难以察觉:校准指标忽略误差方向,自然语境又缺乏真实概率参考。当模型认为某初创企业成功概率为70%,失败概率仅15%时,缺失的15个百分点揭示了聚合指标无法捕捉的扭曲。我们提出OptimismBench,通过成对反向表述(如成功/失败)获取概率,利用两者的不对称性计算有符号的偏差得分,无需真实标签。在8家厂商的16个模型中,14个呈现乐观倾向;悲观仅见于Anthropic的前沿模型。11组基础版与对话版对比显示,后训练过程决定偏差方向,不同模型家族出现相反变化。该模式在提示、温度、视角和去偏测试中均保持稳定。跨17个模型、6种语言的比较进一步表明,模型个体差异的影响是语言差异的4.7倍。我们已公开3,870个样本,覆盖10种语言,支持模型层面的方向性偏差审计。对齐训练使模型更助人,却也使其概率判断更倾斜,下游系统默认继承这一偏差。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Large language models are increasingly used as decision aids whose probability judgments shape downstream choices. Whether those judgments carry a systematic directional tilt has been hard to detect: calibration metrics aggregate unsigned errors, and naturalistic uncertainty offers no ground-truth probability. When an LLM rates a startup's success at 70% but its failure at 15%, the missing 15 points expose a distortion no aggregate score flags. We introduce OptimismBench, which detects directional bias with inverted pairs: each scenario elicits both P(success) and P(failure), and asymmetry between the two framings yields a signed bias score without ground truth. Across 16 models from 8 providers, fourteen are optimistic; pessimism appears only in Anthropic's frontier tier. Eleven matched base-versus-chat pairs across four families show post-training sets the sign of the bias, with opposite shifts in different families. The pattern survives prompt, temperature, perspective, and self-debiasing ablations. A seventeen-model six-language comparison further shows model identity dominates language, with inter-model variance at 4.7x inter-language variance. We release 3,870 items across 10 languages for per-model directional-bias auditing. When alignment makes a model more helpful, it also tilts its probabilities; downstream pipelines inherit the tilt by default.

模型偏差概率判断对齐研究审计工具

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