Revisiting the Graph Reasoning Ability of Large Language Models: Case Studies in Translation, Connectivity and Shortest Path

ACL ARR 2024 August Submission412 Authors

16 Aug 2024 (modified: 24 Sept 2024)ACL ARR 2024 August SubmissionEveryoneRevisionsBibTeXCC BY 4.0
Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved great success in various reasoning tasks. In this work, we focus on the graph reasoning ability of LLMs. Although theoretical studies proved that LLMs are capable of handling graph reasoning tasks, empirical evaluations reveal numerous failures. To deepen our understanding on this discrepancy, we revisit the ability of LLMs on three fundamental graph tasks: graph description translation, graph connectivity, and the shortest-path problem. Our findings suggest that LLMs can fail to understand graph structures through text descriptions and exhibit varying performance for all these three fundamental tasks. Meanwhile, we perform a real-world investigation on knowledge graphs and make consistent observations with our findings.
Paper Type: Long
Research Area: Interpretability and Analysis of Models for NLP
Research Area Keywords: graph reasoning ability
Contribution Types: Model analysis & interpretability
Languages Studied: English
Submission Number: 412
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