{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7160610743","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","title":"Weak-to-Strong Generalization is Nearly Inevitable (in Linear Models)","display_name":"Weak-to-Strong Generalization is Nearly Inevitable (in Linear Models)","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-05-07","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7160610743","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5135679257","display_name":"Scott Geng","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Geng, Scott","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5099096952","display_name":"Dutch Hansen","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Hansen, Dutch","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5135718319","display_name":"Jerry Li","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Li, Jerry","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12072","display_name":"Machine Learning and Algorithms","score":0.1315000057220459,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12072","display_name":"Machine Learning and Algorithms","score":0.1315000057220459,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11612","display_name":"Stochastic Gradient Optimization Techniques","score":0.13019999861717224,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.07079999893903732,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/generalization","display_name":"Generalization","score":0.9068999886512756},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/exploit","display_name":"Exploit","score":0.7156999707221985},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/work","display_name":"Work (physics)","score":0.5436999797821045},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/phenomenon","display_name":"Phenomenon","score":0.46389999985694885},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/empirical-research","display_name":"Empirical research","score":0.40059998631477356},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/mechanism","display_name":"Mechanism (biology)","score":0.37049999833106995}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C177148314","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170084","display_name":"Generalization","level":2,"score":0.9068999886512756},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C165696696","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11287","display_name":"Exploit","level":2,"score":0.7156999707221985},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C18762648","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42213","display_name":"Work (physics)","level":2,"score":0.5436999797821045},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.5375999808311462},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C50335755","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q483247","display_name":"Phenomenon","level":2,"score":0.46389999985694885},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C144237770","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q747534","display_name":"Mathematical economics","level":1,"score":0.4088999927043915},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C120936955","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2155640","display_name":"Empirical research","level":2,"score":0.40059998631477356},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C89611455","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6804646","display_name":"Mechanism (biology)","level":2,"score":0.37049999833106995},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C33923547","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q395","display_name":"Mathematics","level":0,"score":0.34549999237060547},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780586882","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7520643","display_name":"Simple (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.34209999442100525},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C80444323","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2878974","display_name":"Theoretical computer science","level":1,"score":0.33399999141693115},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C166052673","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q83021","display_name":"Empirical evidence","level":2,"score":0.32260000705718994},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2778571376","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1355821","display_name":"Frontier","level":2,"score":0.31839999556541443},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C182306322","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1779371","display_name":"Order (exchange)","level":2,"score":0.27730000019073486},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.26339998841285706},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C61797465","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1188986","display_name":"Term (time)","level":2,"score":0.26089999079704285}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.05742","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"score":0.7822472453117371,"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/4","display_name":"Quality Education"}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Weak-to-strong":[0],"generalization":[1,85,113],"is":[2,114,162],"a":[3,8,18,58,157,163],"phenomenon":[4],"in":[5,46,87,115,120,141,159],"post-training":[6],"whereby":[7],"strong":[9],"student":[10,131],"model,":[11],"when":[12],"finetuned":[13],"solely":[14],"with":[15],"feedback":[16],"from":[17],"weaker":[19],"teacher,":[20,26,147],"can":[21,28,44],"not":[22,128],"only":[23],"surpass":[24],"the":[25,47,97,130,146,152],"but":[27],"improve":[29],"upon":[30],"its":[31],"own":[32],"capabilities.":[33],"Recent":[34],"work":[35,63,73],"of":[36,49,60],"Burns":[37],"et":[38],"al.":[39],"(2023)":[40],"demonstrated":[41],"that":[42,83,103,111,156],"this":[43,67,79,104,121],"occur":[45],"setting":[48,126],"frontier":[50],"language":[51],"models,":[52],"and":[53],"subsequently":[54],"there":[55],"has":[56],"been":[57],"flurry":[59],"both":[61],"empirical":[62],"trying":[64],"to":[65,75,132,145,151,166],"exploit":[66],"phenomenon,":[68],"as":[69,71],"well":[70],"theoretical":[72,154],"attempting":[74],"understand":[76],"it.":[77],"In":[78,99],"work,":[80],"we":[81,101],"demonstrate":[82],"weak-to-strong":[84,112,167],"occurs":[86],"standard":[88],"linear":[89],"logistic":[90],"regression,":[91],"under":[92],"mild":[93],"distributional":[94],"assumptions":[95],"on":[96],"data.":[98],"fact,":[100],"show":[102],"happens":[105],"for":[106],"most":[107],"student-teacher":[108],"pairs,":[109],"suggesting":[110],"fact":[116],"\\emph{almost":[117],"inevitable},":[118],"even":[119],"basic":[122],"setting.":[123],"Notably,":[124],"our":[125],"does":[127],"require":[129],"be":[133],"more":[134,138],"expressive":[135],"or":[136],"have":[137],"model":[139,160],"capacity":[140,161],"any":[142],"way":[143],"compared":[144],"which":[148],"runs":[149],"contrary":[150],"prevailing":[153],"belief":[155],"mismatch":[158],"central":[164],"mechanism":[165],"generalization.":[168]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-06-11T09:08:48.828518","created_date":"2026-05-09T00:00:00"}