arXiv AI

Nothing from Something: Can a Language Model Discover 0?

arXiv:2606. 17289v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: AI systems based on artificial neural networks are being developed with aspirations of pushing the boundary of human mathematical knowledge.

arXiv AI
Aug 12

On Solomonoff Induction in Large Language Models and the Limits of Self-Improving: The Singularity Is Not Near Without Symbolic Model Synthesis

arXiv:2601. 05280v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: On the one hand, the question of whether large language models (LLMs) are Solomonoff induction estimators has become an explicit question at the intersection of Algorithmic Information Theory (AIT) and Machine Learning (ML) of great interest.

By Hector Zenil
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 27

Emergent Abilities in Large Language Models: A Survey

Emergent Abilities in Large Language Models: A Survey reviews how scaling LLMs leads to previously unseen capabilities such as advanced reasoning, in-context learning, coding, and problem-solving. The paper critically examines definitions, inconsistencies, and the conditions that foster these abilities, including scaling laws, task complexity, pre‑training loss, quantization, and prompting strategies. It also discusses the extension to Large Reasoning Models and highlights safety concerns like deception, manipulation, and reward hacking, calling for improved evaluation and governance.

By Leonardo Berti, Flavio Giorgi, Gjergji Kasneci
arXiv AI
Sep 21

Large Language Models As Shannon Lossy Compressors Not Solomonoff Induction Estimators: The Singularity Is Not Near Without Symbolic Model Synthesis

The paper argues that Large Language Models (LLMs) do not function as Solomonoff induction estimators because their training objectives—cross‑entropy, negative log‑likelihood, and next‑token prediction—optimize fit to a supplied conditional distribution rather than a program‑weighted universal mixture. It further contends that additional computation alone does not transform these models into optimal predictors without external hyper‑parameter or architectural changes. The authors suggest that neurosymbolic machine learning, exemplified by models such as Fable and Astra, represents a shift toward symbolic model synthesis, moving beyond purely statistical LLMs.

By Hector Zenil, Abicumaran Uthamacumaran, Luan Ozelim
arXiv AI
Sep 25

Learning to Discover Interesting Mathematics

The paper introduces a method for evaluating the intrinsic interestingness of mathematical theorems by comparing the length of their proofs to the length of their statements. It trains a 27B language model to predict proof difficulty, enabling the generation and selection of more interesting theorems while significantly reducing overlap with existing Mathlib. The approach allows iterative expansion of a self‑building, machine‑verified mathematical library guided by quantifiable metrics.

By Niket Patel, Ahmad Rammal, Amaury Hayat, Remi Munos, Julia Kempe
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Jul 5

Why Pure Reasoning is Not Enough: Nature as the Source of Mathematical Innovation

We advance the hypothesis that human mathematical reasoning, constrained by both the undecidability and the computational intractability of even modest logical fragments, relies fundamentally on pattern matching from domains external to pure deduction. The most prolific reservoir of such patterns is the natural world, whose physical laws and biological systems have undergone billions of years of ``pre-computation'' and already exhibit surprisingly innovative solutions.

arXiv AI
Sep 25

Self-Play Pretraining with Zero Data

The paper introduces Self‑Play Pretraining with Zero Data, a proof‑of‑concept method that lets a model generate its own training data by searching over all computable processes using a universal Turing machine. Two models— a generator that proposes byte‑sequence programs and a learner that predicts those sequences—train together, with the generator rewarded for producing data at the learner’s frontier, creating an adaptive curriculum. Experiments show that zero‑shot performance on natural datasets scales predictably with compute, and the models exhibit in‑context learning and discover mathematical sequences during training.

By Aditya Cowsik, Kfir Dolev, Michael Y. Li, G. Bruno De Luca, Nourya Cohen, Noah D. Goodman, Yoav Levine