Parameterized Argumentation-based Reasoning Tasks for Benchmarking Generative Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Steging, Cor, Renooij, Silja, Verheij, Bart
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Steging, Cor
Renooij, Silja
Verheij, Bart
author_facet Steging, Cor
Renooij, Silja
Verheij, Bart
contents Generative large language models as tools in the legal domain have the potential to improve the justice system. However, the reasoning behavior of current generative models is brittle and poorly understood, hence cannot be responsibly applied in the domains of law and evidence. In this paper, we introduce an approach for creating benchmarks that can be used to evaluate the reasoning capabilities of generative language models. These benchmarks are dynamically varied, scalable in their complexity, and have formally unambiguous interpretations. In this study, we illustrate the approach on the basis of witness testimony, focusing on the underlying argument attack structure. We dynamically generate both linear and non-linear argument attack graphs of varying complexity and translate these into reasoning puzzles about witness testimony expressed in natural language. We show that state-of-the-art large language models often fail in these reasoning puzzles, already at low complexity. Obvious mistakes are made by the models, and their inconsistent performance indicates that their reasoning capabilities are brittle. Furthermore, at higher complexity, even state-of-the-art models specifically presented for reasoning capabilities make mistakes. We show the viability of using a parametrized benchmark with varying complexity to evaluate the reasoning capabilities of generative language models. As such, the findings contribute to a better understanding of the limitations of the reasoning capabilities of generative models, which is essential when designing responsible AI systems in the legal domain.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_01539
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Parameterized Argumentation-based Reasoning Tasks for Benchmarking Generative Language Models
Steging, Cor
Renooij, Silja
Verheij, Bart
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Generative large language models as tools in the legal domain have the potential to improve the justice system. However, the reasoning behavior of current generative models is brittle and poorly understood, hence cannot be responsibly applied in the domains of law and evidence. In this paper, we introduce an approach for creating benchmarks that can be used to evaluate the reasoning capabilities of generative language models. These benchmarks are dynamically varied, scalable in their complexity, and have formally unambiguous interpretations. In this study, we illustrate the approach on the basis of witness testimony, focusing on the underlying argument attack structure. We dynamically generate both linear and non-linear argument attack graphs of varying complexity and translate these into reasoning puzzles about witness testimony expressed in natural language. We show that state-of-the-art large language models often fail in these reasoning puzzles, already at low complexity. Obvious mistakes are made by the models, and their inconsistent performance indicates that their reasoning capabilities are brittle. Furthermore, at higher complexity, even state-of-the-art models specifically presented for reasoning capabilities make mistakes. We show the viability of using a parametrized benchmark with varying complexity to evaluate the reasoning capabilities of generative language models. As such, the findings contribute to a better understanding of the limitations of the reasoning capabilities of generative models, which is essential when designing responsible AI systems in the legal domain.
title Parameterized Argumentation-based Reasoning Tasks for Benchmarking Generative Language Models
topic Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.01539