When Is an Agent Evaluation Over? Outcome Finality and Cross-Unit Separation

Title:When Is an Agent Evaluation Over? Outcome Finality and Cross-Unit Separation

Abstract:Current agent evaluations score models on the state visible at the end of a stopped run which they count as one trial. However, interpreting the score as a final result would require two conditions that the endpoint does not itself necessarily establish: outcome finality and cross-unit separation. These conditions are independent, since reconciling a delayed outcome can settle the label while runs still share state and isolating runs can prevent carryover while the scored outcome remains unfinished. We develop a completion argument that specifies the evidence needed for each decision and argue that a final label is justified only when anything that could still change the claimed outcome is resolved, bounded, or retained as uncertainty. First, in a controlled replay to demonstrate the mechanism where an agent's actions were held fixed, we find that the endpoint and terminal labels differ for every delayed operation, while a delayed write changes the next run's score when service state persists between runs but not after isolation or verified reset. Second, in a review of ten public protocols, we find that all protocols identify when a run stops and what is scored, while unfinished operations and the evidence for treating runs as separate trials are documented less consistently. Finally, we propose an open-effects record that lists operations or resources that may remain relevant after the endpoint, their current status, and whether they could change the scored outcome or affect another run.

Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Computers and Society (cs.CY)

arXiv:2608.14940 [cs.AI]

(or arXiv:2608.14940v1 [cs.AI] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14940 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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