Reading Too Much into Context: Passive Exposure Can Steer LLM Decisions

Abstract:Large language model (LLM) assistants can now search the web and consult external sources while completing user requests. These sources can provide useful evidence, but they can also introduce additional content into the model's context. Can such passive exposure steer a decision even when the added content provides no reason to change it? We examine the stability of model decisions on the same tasks with and without such external content. Across all open-weight and closed-weight models we test, exposure systematically shifts decisions, with effects reaching nearly 50 percentage points in closed-weight models. The same pattern appears with real-world online opinions. The influence also extends beyond subjective preferences. Such exposure can steer models toward choices that violate explicit user requirements and increase their acceptance of false claims. In short, what enters an LLM's context can influence its decision even when it should not determine it.

Computation and Language (cs.CL); Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2609.33065 [cs.CL]

(or arXiv:2609.33065v1 [cs.CL] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.33065 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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