RINI: Seeing the Prior Is Not Enough
A research proposal can describe an established mechanism correctly while claiming to introduce it. We study whether providing the earlier paper corrects such contribution claims. Three controlled experiments compare proposals generated with a contribution-bearing prior and a same-topic control. Providing the prior yields no clear aggregate reduction in unsupported novelty. Human analysis of 175 interpretable exposed proposals finds that 137 recognize the prior's relevance, but 61 correctly attribute the established contribution. Of 71 proposed remaining distinctions, 37 are covered by the same prior. We introduce Research Idea Novelty Inspection (RINI), which audits contribution claims a...
| Authors | Hongyi Du, Tianyi Zhang, Heng Wang et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.AI |
| Published | 27 September 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 27 September 2026 |
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