Do Large Language Models Encode Institutional Experience? Evidence from Cross-Linguistic Moral Reasoning Under Ambiguity
Large language models (LLMs) exhibit systematic differences in moral reasoning across languages, yet the source of this variation remains unclear. We test the hypothesis that languages encode aspects of the institutional environments in which they are spoken, allowing LLMs to inherit institution-specific moral priors through training. Across nine languages spanning a broad gradient of institutional quality, six frontier LLMs, and two preregistered studies, we examine moral dilemmas whose acceptability depends on institutional functioning. In Study 1, explicit institutional framing produced uniformly null results: cross-linguistic moral divergence did not increase in institutionally contin...
| Authors | Nattavudh Powdthavee |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.CL |
| Published | 29 May 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 29 May 2026 |
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