arXiv Machine Learning By Aviral Chawla, William H. W. Thompson, Jean-Gabriel Young

Multiple latent orderings better predict language model preferences

Read the original on arXiv Machine Learning →

The paper argues that language models’ intransitive preferences arise from multiple internally consistent latent orderings rather than noise around a single ordering. By demonstrating that a single ordering cannot explain observed inconsistencies and introducing a noise‑augmented mixture Bradley‑Terry model, the authors show that mixtures of orderings better capture preference structure across several models and tasks. A case study on Moral Machine dilemmas further illustrates that models can share latent components even when aggregate preferences differ.

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