arXiv Computation and Language

Trace Integrity for LLM Data Agents: A Vision for Auditable Structured Reasoning in Real-World Systems

The paper argues that answer accuracy alone is insufficient for evaluating large language model (LLM) data agents, especially in structured-data tasks where a correct answer can be produced by an invalid trace. It introduces Trace Integrity as a reliability criterion that ensures the computation behind an answer is explicit, executable, schema-valid, operator-faithful, replayable, answer-consistent, and auditable. The authors operationalize this concept with execution contracts and present the CAIT (Correct Answer / Invalid Trace) Rate to quantify how often answer-only evaluations mistakenly reward unsupported outputs, demonstrating that accuracy, trace validity, and silent-failure risk are distinct signals.

arXiv AI
Jun 16

From Agent Traces to Trust: A Survey of Evidence Tracing and Execution Provenance in LLM Agents

arXiv:2606. 04990v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Large language model (LLM)-based agents are evolving from passive text generators into autonomous systems capable of planning, tool use, retrieval, memory access, environmental interaction, and multi-agent collaboration.

By Yiqi Wang, Jiaqi Zhang, Taotao Cai, Zirui Liu, Qingqiang Sun, Zequn Sun, Zhangkai Wu, Manqing Dong, Mingkai Zhang, Xuefei Yin, Yanming Zhu
arXiv AI
Aug 17

Never the Number: Structural Abstention for AI Systems Whose Answers Are Consumed as Fact

arXiv:2608. 13926v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Large language models have made natural language interfaces to databases (NLIDB) newly credible, but LLM text-to-SQL systems fail in a way that matters for deployment: a hallucinated column or a mis-aggregated total yields a fluent wrong answer, indistinguishable at the point of use from a right one.

By Zhelun (Allen), Wu
arXiv AI
Jul 31

TraceCoder: Explainable and Auditable Code Generation with Position-Key Snippet Versioning

arXiv:2607. 26307v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Contemporary LLM-based coding agents produce code as black-box outputs: the rationale behind each line is hidden, the evolution of the code through benchmark-driven repair is ephemeral, and post-hoc auditing is impossible.

By Rwaida Alssadi, Muntaser Syed, Balaji Kasula, Lamine Deen, Majed Alotaibi, Mohammed Alghamdi, Tyler Ton, Ali Alqarni, Marius Silaghi
arXiv AI
Aug 20

LEDGER: Claim-to-Evidence Trace Graphs for Auditing LLM Agents

LEDGER is a tracing and review system for large language model agents that constructs layered trace graphs from observed sessions. It groups raw trace records into Evidence Nodes and Workflow Nodes, anchors artifacts as evidence, and adds typed semantic edges linking claims to supporting actions, artifacts, and checks. The resulting traces reveal workflow decisions, artifact lineage, repair steps, validation coverage, and claim‑support paths for evidence‑centered audit.

By Daehong Kim, Haichao Miao, Shusen Liu
arXiv AI
Jun 16

VeriGraph: Towards Verifiable Data-Analytic Agents

arXiv:2606. 16603v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: LLM-based agents have demonstrated strong capabilities in data-intensive analytical tasks, yet their outputs are rarely verifiable: a reliance on linear text trajectories makes their reasoning difficult to audit.

By Jiajie Jin, Zhao Yang, Wenle Liao, Yuyang Hu, Guanting Dong, Xiaoxi Li, Yutao Zhu, Zhicheng Dou