Auditing Cascading Risks in Multi-Agent Systems via Semantic-Geometric Co-evolution

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Luo, Zixun, Fan, Yuhang, Lin, Hengyu, Li, Yufei, Zhang, Youzhi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Luo, Zixun
Fan, Yuhang
Lin, Hengyu
Li, Yufei
Zhang, Youzhi
author_facet Luo, Zixun
Fan, Yuhang
Lin, Hengyu
Li, Yufei
Zhang, Youzhi
contents Large Language model (LLM)-based Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are prone to cascading risks, where early-stage interactions remain semantically fluent and policy-compliant, yet the underlying interaction dynamics begin to distort in ways that amplify latent instability or misalignment. Traditional auditing methods that focus on per-message semantic content are inherently reactive and lagging, failing to capture these early structural precursors. In this paper, we propose a principled framework for cascading-risk detection grounded in semantic--geometric co-evolution. We model MAS interactions as dynamic graphs and introduce Ollivier--Ricci Curvature (ORC) -- a discrete geometric measure -- to characterize information redundancy and bottleneck formation in communication topologies. By coupling semantic flow signals with graph geometry, the framework learns the normal co-evolutionary dynamics of trusted collaboration and treats deviations from this coupled manifold as early-warning signals. Experiments on a suite of cascading-risk scenarios aligned with the risk category demonstrate that curvature anomalies systematically precede explicit semantic violations by several interaction turns, enabling proactive intervention. Furthermore, the local nature of Ricci curvature provides principled interpretability for root-cause attribution, identifying specific agents or links that precipitate the collapse of trustworthy collaboration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_13325
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Auditing Cascading Risks in Multi-Agent Systems via Semantic-Geometric Co-evolution
Luo, Zixun
Fan, Yuhang
Lin, Hengyu
Li, Yufei
Zhang, Youzhi
Multiagent Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Large Language model (LLM)-based Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are prone to cascading risks, where early-stage interactions remain semantically fluent and policy-compliant, yet the underlying interaction dynamics begin to distort in ways that amplify latent instability or misalignment. Traditional auditing methods that focus on per-message semantic content are inherently reactive and lagging, failing to capture these early structural precursors. In this paper, we propose a principled framework for cascading-risk detection grounded in semantic--geometric co-evolution. We model MAS interactions as dynamic graphs and introduce Ollivier--Ricci Curvature (ORC) -- a discrete geometric measure -- to characterize information redundancy and bottleneck formation in communication topologies. By coupling semantic flow signals with graph geometry, the framework learns the normal co-evolutionary dynamics of trusted collaboration and treats deviations from this coupled manifold as early-warning signals. Experiments on a suite of cascading-risk scenarios aligned with the risk category demonstrate that curvature anomalies systematically precede explicit semantic violations by several interaction turns, enabling proactive intervention. Furthermore, the local nature of Ricci curvature provides principled interpretability for root-cause attribution, identifying specific agents or links that precipitate the collapse of trustworthy collaboration.
title Auditing Cascading Risks in Multi-Agent Systems via Semantic-Geometric Co-evolution
topic Multiagent Systems
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.13325