CyberCorrect: A Cybernetic Framework for Closed-Loop Self-Correction in Large Language Models

TL;DR

CyberCorrect introduces a cybernetic, closed-loop framework for systematic self-correction in large language models, improving accuracy and stability through error detection, targeted correction, and convergence control.

Contribution

It formalizes LLM self-correction as a control system with novel error detection, correction, and convergence metrics, advancing beyond ad hoc prompt-based methods.

Findings

Achieves 79.8% final accuracy on 440 reasoning tasks.

Improves correction accuracy by 6.2 percentage points over existing methods.

Reduces overshoot rate by 41% through convergence control.

Abstract

Large language model (LLM) self-correction -- the ability to detect and fix errors in generated outputs -- remains largely ad hoc, relying on generic prompts such as "please reconsider your answer" without systematic error analysis or convergence guarantees. We propose CyberCorrect, a framework that formalizes LLM self-correction as a closed-loop control system grounded in cybernetic theory. The framework models the LLM generator as the plant and introduces a tri-modal Error Detector (combining self-consistency, verbalized confidence, and logic-chain verification) as the sensor. A type-directed Correction Controller generates targeted repair instructions based on diagnosed error categories, while a Convergence Judge determines iteration termination using stability criteria adapted from control theory. We further introduce three control-theoretic evaluation metrics -- convergence rate, overshoot rate, and oscillation rate -- that capture correction dynamics beyond final accuracy. Experiments on our constructed CyberCorrect-Bench (440 reasoning tasks with annotated error types and correction paths) show that CyberCorrect achieves 79.8% final accuracy, improving upon the best existing self-correction method by 6.2 percentage points, while reducing overshoot (erroneous over-correction) by 41% through its convergence control mechanism.