An Evolutionary Framework for Automatic Optimization Benchmark Generation via Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ono, Yuhiro, Harada, Tomohiro, Miura, Yukiya
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Ono, Yuhiro
Harada, Tomohiro
Miura, Yukiya
author_facet Ono, Yuhiro
Harada, Tomohiro
Miura, Yukiya
contents Optimization benchmarks play a fundamental role in assessing algorithm performance; however, existing artificial benchmarks often fail to capture the diversity and irregularity of real-world problem structures, while benchmarks derived from real-world problems are costly and difficult to construct. To address these challenges, we propose an evolutionary automatic benchmark generation framework that leverages a large language model (LLM) as a generative operator, termed the LLM-driven evolutionary benchmark generator (LLM-EBG). In this framework, the LLM serves as an evolutionary operator that generates and evolves benchmark problems within a flexible, expressive representation space. As a case study, we generate unconstrained single-objective continuous minimization problems represented as mathematical expressions designed to induce significant performance differences between a genetic algorithm (GA) and differential evolution (DE). Experimental results show that LLM-EBG successfully produces benchmark problems in which the designated target algorithm consistently outperforms the comparative algorithm in more than 80\% of trials. Furthermore, exploratory landscape analysis reveals that benchmarks favoring GA are highly sensitive to variable scaling, demonstrating that the proposed framework can generate problems with distinct geometric characteristics that reflect the intrinsic search behaviors of different optimization algorithms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_12723
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Evolutionary Framework for Automatic Optimization Benchmark Generation via Large Language Models
Ono, Yuhiro
Harada, Tomohiro
Miura, Yukiya
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Optimization benchmarks play a fundamental role in assessing algorithm performance; however, existing artificial benchmarks often fail to capture the diversity and irregularity of real-world problem structures, while benchmarks derived from real-world problems are costly and difficult to construct. To address these challenges, we propose an evolutionary automatic benchmark generation framework that leverages a large language model (LLM) as a generative operator, termed the LLM-driven evolutionary benchmark generator (LLM-EBG). In this framework, the LLM serves as an evolutionary operator that generates and evolves benchmark problems within a flexible, expressive representation space. As a case study, we generate unconstrained single-objective continuous minimization problems represented as mathematical expressions designed to induce significant performance differences between a genetic algorithm (GA) and differential evolution (DE). Experimental results show that LLM-EBG successfully produces benchmark problems in which the designated target algorithm consistently outperforms the comparative algorithm in more than 80\% of trials. Furthermore, exploratory landscape analysis reveals that benchmarks favoring GA are highly sensitive to variable scaling, demonstrating that the proposed framework can generate problems with distinct geometric characteristics that reflect the intrinsic search behaviors of different optimization algorithms.
title An Evolutionary Framework for Automatic Optimization Benchmark Generation via Large Language Models
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.12723