Test-time scaling (TTS) has demonstrated remarkable potential in enhancing the reasoning capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Large Vision-Language Models (LVLMs). However, its application has primarily been limited to domains such as mathematics and programming, owing to their reasoning-intensive nature and the ease of result verification. Its utility in other knowledge-intensive fields, such as medicine and general scientific research, remains underexplored. To bridge this gap and unlock the potential of TTS in broader domains, we propose Cross-Domain TTS, a novel framework that enables task-tailored scaling. This framework consists of two key components: a conformal prediction-based cold-start strategy and an information-gain-based dynamic reasoning adjustment. The CP-based cold-start strategy guides the model's initialization during test-time scaling based on conformal prediction theory, while the information-gain-based dynamic reasoning adjustment guides the model's reasoning progress through a progress vector according to the information gain of reasoning steps. We conducted experiments using LLMs and LVLMs on cross-domain benchmarks. Our results demonstrate that the proposed framework consistently improves performance across various domain-specific datasets. For instance, in the medical domain, it achieves an improvement of up to 17% in pass@1 accuracy while reducing inference latency and saving up to 30% in token consumption. Code is available at https://github.com/Yan0613/Cross-Domain-TTS.

Cross Domain Test Time Scaling: Scale Knowledge and Reasoning on Cross Domains / Yan, M., Shao, Y., Pan, Y., Chen, S., Pei, H., Tang, H., Ma, F., Guo, J., Sebe, N.. - (2026), pp. 1947-1955. (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence Bremen August 2026) [10.24963/ijcai.2026/217].

Cross Domain Test Time Scaling: Scale Knowledge and Reasoning on Cross Domains

Tang, Hao;Sebe, Nicu
2026-01-01

Abstract

Test-time scaling (TTS) has demonstrated remarkable potential in enhancing the reasoning capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Large Vision-Language Models (LVLMs). However, its application has primarily been limited to domains such as mathematics and programming, owing to their reasoning-intensive nature and the ease of result verification. Its utility in other knowledge-intensive fields, such as medicine and general scientific research, remains underexplored. To bridge this gap and unlock the potential of TTS in broader domains, we propose Cross-Domain TTS, a novel framework that enables task-tailored scaling. This framework consists of two key components: a conformal prediction-based cold-start strategy and an information-gain-based dynamic reasoning adjustment. The CP-based cold-start strategy guides the model's initialization during test-time scaling based on conformal prediction theory, while the information-gain-based dynamic reasoning adjustment guides the model's reasoning progress through a progress vector according to the information gain of reasoning steps. We conducted experiments using LLMs and LVLMs on cross-domain benchmarks. Our results demonstrate that the proposed framework consistently improves performance across various domain-specific datasets. For instance, in the medical domain, it achieves an improvement of up to 17% in pass@1 accuracy while reducing inference latency and saving up to 30% in token consumption. Code is available at https://github.com/Yan0613/Cross-Domain-TTS.
2026
Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Darmstadt
IJCAI Press
Yan, Minxi; Shao, Yihua; Pan, Yanling; Chen, Siyu; Pei, Hongjuan; Tang, Hao; Ma, Fei; Guo, Jingcai; Sebe, Nicu
Cross Domain Test Time Scaling: Scale Knowledge and Reasoning on Cross Domains / Yan, M., Shao, Y., Pan, Y., Chen, S., Pei, H., Tang, H., Ma, F., Guo, J., Sebe, N.. - (2026), pp. 1947-1955. (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence Bremen August 2026) [10.24963/ijcai.2026/217].
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
0217-compressed.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 358.1 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
358.1 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/502671
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact