The paper introduces the Token Economy Score (TES), a metric that quantifies the accuracy gain of reasoning-capable large language models relative to non-reasoning baselines, normalized by token generation cost. An empirical study across 151 runs on seven diverse benchmarks shows that task structure—such as sequential inference chains—predicts higher TES, while knowledge-recall tasks yield lower TES despite difficulty. The analysis also reveals diminishing returns at higher reasoning effort and highlights how deployment context, via Reasoning Cost Share and Deployment Cost Multiplier, can alter the economic viability of reasoning workloads.
By Sachin Gopal Wani, Ajay Dholakia, David Ellison
arXiv:2607. 13034v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Large language model (LLM) agents increasingly automate multi-step engineering and informatics workflows, yet they rarely ask how much effort a task actually requires.
By Junjie Yin, Xinyu Feng
The paper investigates how test‑time computation can enhance language models and at what cost, introducing the SELF‑POT benchmark to evaluate this across competition mathematics, competitive programming, and agentic workflows. SELF‑POT separates candidate coverage from final accuracy, tracks correctness transitions under revision, and measures protocol completion alongside task success. Using a unified budget rule, the study compares direct inference, parallel sampling, and self‑revision across five low‑cost reasoning models, revealing that selection rules and failure handling significantly influence gains and cost savings.
By Bangji Yang, Jingyuan Li, Jiajun Fan, Yi Evie Zhang, Ruihan Guo, Hongba Ma, Neil He, Chumeng Liang, Qinglong Zheng, Zhanghan Ni, Ge Liu
The paper discusses how the same computational task can require different reasoning strategies depending on the order in which evidence arrives, introducing the concept of an "information‑slack dilemma." It argues that early computation may be useful only if its benefits outweigh the costs of later verification, invalidation, and recovery, and proposes a research agenda focused on selective recovery and predictive policies. The authors emphasize evaluating these approaches by separating early‑execution effects, deployment value versus full‑input alternatives, and the added value of predictive policies while considering shared‑resource costs.
By Xiaotian Zhang (Trooly.AI)
arXiv:2608. 09351v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Test-time scaling improves LLM accuracy but multiplies inference cost, making the accuracy gained per unit of compute the metric that matters in deployment.
By Nikita Kozodoi, Zainab Afolabi, Jack Butler
When2Think introduces a post‑training framework that dynamically allocates reasoning depth in Large Reasoning Models based on instance difficulty. The method uses Instance‑level Difficulty‑Aware Control (IDAC) to shape rewards with pre‑computed accuracy and token usage statistics, enabling stable, critic‑free optimization without learned reward models. Experiments on mathematical benchmarks show that When2Think improves accuracy‑efficiency trade‑offs, achieving higher Pass@3 scores while reducing token usage compared to baseline models.
By Jaejun Shim, HyunJin Kim, Young Jin Kim, JinYeong Bak
arXiv:2608. 05519v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Agent benchmarks usually measure task completion and treat resource use as an auxiliary statistic.
By Jie Wu, Ming Gong, Feixiang Cheng, Qinqin Zhao
arXiv:2606. 14805v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Reliable operation of multi-agent large language model (LLM) systems depends on debugging long execution traces, where the few causally decisive events are buried in unstructured logs of messages, routes, memory writes, and tool calls.
By Dong Ho Kang, Hyeonjeong Cha, Daein Weon
arXiv:2606. 27743v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) inference is typically deployed under a static resource assumption, where models execute a fixed computational graph regardless of the runtime environment.
By Yuhang Chen, Jinhao Duan, Ruichen Zhang, Mingfu Liang, Xiaohan Wei, Yunchen Pu, Fei Tian, Chonglin Sun, Parish Aggarwal, Frank Shyu, Luke Simon, Sandeep Pandey, Tianlong Chen, Xi Liu
In cognitive science, resource rationality asks how an agent should allocate limited computation to maximize expected value. Most reasoning and agent benchmarks use independent per-task budgets; exist...
arXiv:2608. 08528v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Enterprise AI coding assistants incur substantial inference spend, and naive token-cost minimization often fails to reduce end-to-end cost once retries, escalations, and developer wait time are included.
By Srinivasan Manoharan, Junhua Zhao, Fangbo Tu, Haifeng Wu, Jian Wan, Maliah Rajan M, Ashwin Hegde, Mithun Sasidharan, Kalyan Chakravarthi Podamekala
arXiv:2604. 05164v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: As LLM reasoning performance plateaus, improving inference-time compute efficiency is crucial to mitigate overthinking and long thinking traces even for simple queries.
By Neharika Jali, Anupam Nayak, Gauri Joshi