Large Reasoning Models are not thinking straight: on the unreliability of thinking trajectories

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Cuesta-Ramirez, Jhouben, Beaussant, Samuel, Mounsif, Mehdi
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Cuesta-Ramirez, Jhouben
Beaussant, Samuel
Mounsif, Mehdi
author_facet Cuesta-Ramirez, Jhouben
Beaussant, Samuel
Mounsif, Mehdi
contents Large Language Models (LLMs) trained via Reinforcement Learning (RL) have recently achieved impressive results on reasoning benchmarks. Yet, growing evidence shows that these models often generate longer but ineffective chains of thought (CoTs), calling into question whether benchmark gains reflect real reasoning improvements. We present new evidence of overthinking, where models disregard correct solutions even when explicitly provided, instead continuing to generate unnecessary reasoning steps that often lead to incorrect conclusions. Experiments on three state-of-the-art models using the AIME2024 math benchmark reveal critical limitations in these models ability to integrate corrective information, posing new challenges for achieving robust and interpretable reasoning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_00711
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Large Reasoning Models are not thinking straight: on the unreliability of thinking trajectories
Cuesta-Ramirez, Jhouben
Beaussant, Samuel
Mounsif, Mehdi
Machine Learning
Large Language Models (LLMs) trained via Reinforcement Learning (RL) have recently achieved impressive results on reasoning benchmarks. Yet, growing evidence shows that these models often generate longer but ineffective chains of thought (CoTs), calling into question whether benchmark gains reflect real reasoning improvements. We present new evidence of overthinking, where models disregard correct solutions even when explicitly provided, instead continuing to generate unnecessary reasoning steps that often lead to incorrect conclusions. Experiments on three state-of-the-art models using the AIME2024 math benchmark reveal critical limitations in these models ability to integrate corrective information, posing new challenges for achieving robust and interpretable reasoning.
title Large Reasoning Models are not thinking straight: on the unreliability of thinking trajectories
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00711