The increasing digitization of smart grids has improved operational efficiency but also introduced new cybersecurity vulnerabilities, such as False Data Injection Attacks (FDIAs) targeting Automatic Generation Control (AGC) systems. While machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models have shown promise in detecting such attacks, their opaque decision-making limits operator trust and real-world applicability. This paper proposes a hybrid framework that integrates lightweight ML-based attack detection with natural language explanations generated by Large Language Models (LLMs). Classifiers such as LightGBM achieve up to 95.13% attack detection accuracy with only 0.004 s inference latency. Upon detecting a cyberattack, the system invokes LLMs, including GPT-3.5 Turbo, GPT-4 Turbo, and GPT-4o mini, to generate human-readable explanation of the event. Evaluated on 100 test samples, GPT-4o mini with 20-shot prompting achieved 93% accuracy in identifying the attack target, a mean absolute error of 0.075 pu in estimating attack magnitude, and 2.19 seconds mean absolute error (MAE) in estimating attack onset. These results demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively balances real-time detection with interpretable, high-fidelity explanations, addressing a critical need for actionable AI in smart grid cybersecurity.

We propose a framework for probability aggregation based on propositional probability logic. Unlike conventional judgment aggregation, which focuses on static rationality, our model addresses dynamic rationality by ensuring that collective beliefs update consistently with new information. We show that any consensus-compatible and independent aggregation rule on a non-nested agenda is necessarily linear. Furthermore, we provide sufficient conditions for a fair learning process, where individuals initially agree on a specified subset of propositions known as the common ground, and new information is restricted to this shared foundation. This guarantees that updating individual judgments via Bayesian conditioning--whether performed before or after aggregation--yields the same collective belief. A distinctive feature of our framework is its treatment of sequential decision-making, which allows new information to be incorporated progressively through multiple stages while maintaining the established common ground. We illustrate our findings with a running example in a political scenario concerning healthcare and immigration policies.

Plain Language Summarization (PLS) aims to distill complex documents into accessible summaries for non-expert audiences. In this paper, we conduct a thorough survey of PLS literature, and identify that the current standard practice for readability evaluation is to use traditional readability metrics, such as Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL). However, despite proven utility in other fields, these metrics have not been compared to human readability judgments in PLS. We evaluate 8 readability metrics and show that most correlate poorly with human judgments, including the most popular metric, FKGL. We then show that Language Models (LMs) are better judges of readability, with the best-performing model achieving a Pearson correlation of 0.56 with human judgments. Extending our analysis to PLS datasets, which contain summaries aimed at non-expert audiences, we find that LMs better capture deeper measures of readability, such as required background knowledge, and lead to different conclusions than the traditional metrics. Based on these findings, we offer recommendations for best practices in the evaluation of plain language summaries. We release our analysis code and survey data.

In safety-critical deep learning applications, robustness measures the ability of neural models that handle imperceptible perturbations in input data, which may lead to potential safety hazards. Existing pre-deployment robustness assessment methods typically suffer from significant trade-offs between computational cost and measurement precision, limiting their practical utility. To address these limitations, this paper conducts a comprehensive comparative analysis of existing robustness definitions and associated assessment methodologies. We propose tower robustness to evaluate robustness, which is a novel, practical metric based on hypothesis testing to quantitatively evaluate probabilistic robustness, enabling more rigorous and efficient pre-deployment assessments. Our extensive comparative evaluation illustrates the advantages and applicability of our proposed approach, thereby advancing the systematic understanding and enhancement of model robustness in safety-critical deep learning applications.

As learning systems increasingly influence everyday decisions, user-side steering via Algorithmic Collective Action (ACA)-coordinated changes to shared data-offers a complement to regulator-side policy and firm-side model design. Although real-world actions have been traditionally decentralized and fragmented into multiple collectives despite sharing overarching objectives-with each collective differing in size, strategy, and actionable goals, most of the ACA literature focused on single collective settings. In this work, we present the first theoretical framework for ACA with multiple collectives acting on the same system. In particular, we focus on collective action in classification, studying how multiple collectives can plant signals, i.e., bias a classifier to learn an association between an altered version of the features and a chosen, possibly overlapping, set of target classes. We provide quantitative results about the role and the interplay of collectives' sizes and their alignment of goals. Our framework, by also complementing previous empirical results, opens a path for a holistic treatment of ACA with multiple collectives.

Preference-based reinforcement learning has gained prominence as a strategy for training agents in environments where the reward signal is difficult to specify or misaligned with human intent. However, its effectiveness is often limited by the high cost and low availability of reliable human input, especially in domains where expert feedback is scarce or errors are costly. To address this, we propose a novel framework that combines two complementary strategies: probabilistic crowd modelling to handle noisy, multi-annotator feedback, and active learning to prioritize feedback on the most informative agent actions. We extend the Advise algorithm to support multiple trainers, estimate their reliability online, and incorporate entropy-based query selection to guide feedback requests. We evaluate our approach in a set of environments that span both synthetic and real-world-inspired settings, including 2D games (Taxi, Pacman, Frozen Lake) and a blood glucose control task for Type 1 Diabetes using the clinically approved UVA/Padova simulator. Our preliminary results demonstrate that agents trained with feedback on uncertain trajectories exhibit faster learning in most tasks, and we outperform the baselines for the blood glucose control task.

Large reasoning models (LRMs) have demonstrated strong performance in complex, multi-step reasoning tasks. Existing methods enhance LRMs by sequentially integrating external knowledge retrieval; models iteratively generate queries, retrieve external information, and progressively reason over this information. However, purely sequential querying increases inference latency and context length, diminishing coherence and potentially reducing accuracy. To address these limitations, we introduce HDS-QA (Hybrid Deep Search QA), a synthetic dataset automatically generated from Natural Questions, explicitly designed to train LRMs to distinguish parallelizable from sequential queries. HDS-QA comprises hybrid-hop questions that combine parallelizable independent subqueries (executable simultaneously) and sequentially dependent subqueries (requiring step-by-step resolution), along with synthetic reasoning-querying-retrieval paths involving parallel queries. We fine-tune an LRM using HDS-QA, naming the model HybridDeepSearcher, which outperforms state-of-the-art baselines across multiple benchmarks, notably achieving +15.9 and +11.5 F1 on FanOutQA and a subset of BrowseComp, respectively, both requiring comprehensive and exhaustive search. Experimental results highlight two key advantages: HybridDeepSearcher reaches comparable accuracy with fewer search turns, significantly reducing inference latency, and it effectively scales as more turns are permitted. These results demonstrate the efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness of explicitly training LRMs to leverage hybrid parallel and sequential querying.

This research presents a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) framework for art provenance studies, focusing on the Getty Provenance Index. Provenance research establishes the ownership history of artworks, which is essential for verifying authenticity, supporting restitution and legal claims, and understanding the cultural and historical context of art objects. The process is complicated by fragmented, multilingual archival data that hinders efficient retrieval. Current search portals require precise metadata, limiting exploratory searches. Our method enables natural-language and multilingual searches through semantic retrieval and contextual summarization, reducing dependence on metadata structures. We assess RAG's capability to retrieve and summarize auction records using a 10,000-record sample from the Getty Provenance Index - German Sales. The results show this approach provides a scalable solution for navigating art market archives, offering a practical tool for historians and cultural heritage professionals conducting historically sensitive research.

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) represent a growing menace to modern digital infrastructure. Unlike traditional cyberattacks, APTs are stealthy, adaptive, and long-lasting, often bypassing signature-based detection systems. This paper introduces a novel framework for APT detection that unites deep learning, reinforcement learning (RL), and active learning into a cohesive, adaptive defense system. Our system combines auto-encoders for latent behavioral encoding with a multi-agent ensemble of RL-based defenders, each trained to distinguish between benign and malicious process behaviors. We identify a critical challenge in existing detection systems: their static nature and inability to adapt to evolving attack strategies. To this end, our architecture includes multiple RL agents (Q-Learning, PPO, DQN, adversarial defenders), each analyzing latent vectors generated by an auto-encoder. When any agent is uncertain about its decision, the system triggers an active learning loop to simulate expert feedback, thus refining decision boundaries. An ensemble voting mechanism, weighted by each agent's performance, ensures robust final predictions.

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) pose a severe challenge to cyber defense due to their stealthy behavior and the extreme class imbalance inherent in detection datasets. To address these issues, we propose a novel active learning-based anomaly detection framework that leverages similarity search to iteratively refine the decision space. Built upon an Attention-Based Autoencoder, our approach uses feature-space similarity to identify normal-like and anomaly-like instances, thereby enhancing model robustness with minimal oracle supervision. Crucially, we perform a formal evaluation of various similarity measures to understand their influence on sample selection and anomaly ranking effectiveness. Through experiments on diverse datasets, including DARPA Transparent Computing APT traces, we demonstrate that the choice of similarity metric significantly impacts model convergence, anomaly detection accuracy, and label efficiency. Our results offer actionable insights for selecting similarity functions in active learning pipelines tailored for threat intelligence and cyber defense.