LOApr 12
A Linear Temporal Logic of Frequencies on Series of EventsMelissa Antonelli, Leonardo Ceragioli, Alessandro Buda et al.
This paper introduces LTLF, a temporal logic designed to express the frequency properties of event series in a natural but rigorous manner. By introducing novel, measure-sensitive operators, LTLF allows for the evaluation of frequencies and the prediction of future occurrences, thus providing a formal framework to monitor and control quantitative systems, such as machine learning classifiers. The core novelty lies in the introduction of original modal quantifiers associated with a standard Kripke-style semantics. These quantifiers enable the explicit formalization of event series properties and the investigation of the relationship between actual observed frequencies and ideal distributions within a single logical structure. This framework bridges the gap between formal logical reasoning and empirical observation.
CCMay 22
Recursion and proof theoretical characterizations of small circuit classes with modulo counting via discrete differential equations (long version)Melissa Antonelli, Arnaud Durand, Rui Li
The paper proposes an implicit (i.e., machine-independent) complexity approach to studying computation by polynomial-size, constant-depth circuits with gates counting modulo a constant through the lens of discrete ordinary differential equations (ODEs). So far, recursion-theoretic characterizations have been provided for functions computed by circuits of constant depth, including gates counting modulo 2 and 6 only (i.e., for the classes FAC0[2] and FAC0[6], resp.). In this paper, it is shown that considering ODE schemas, rather than bounded recursion, allows for a more fine-grained analysis, leading to (uniform) characterizations for all classes FAC0[n] (n \in N), i.e. functions computed by circuits including counting modulo n gates. Inspired by the syntactic form of the ODE schemas, we go further in this direction and present first-order bounded theories for capturing provably total functions in each of these classes.
LOApr 21
Counting Worlds Branching Time Semantics for post-hoc Bias Mitigation in generative AIAlessandro G. Buda, Giuseppe Primiero, Leonardo Ceragioli et al.
Generative AI systems are known to amplify biases present in their training data. While several inference-time mitigation strategies have been proposed, they remain largely empirical and lack formal guarantees. In this paper we introduce CTLF, a branching-time logic designed to reason about bias in series of generative AI outputs. CTLF adopts a counting worlds semantics where each world represents a possible output at a given step in the generation process and introduces modal operators that allow us to verify whether the current output series respects an intended probability distribution over a protected attribute, to predict the likelihood of remaining within acceptable bounds as new outputs are generated, and to determine how many outputs are needed to remove in order to restore fairness. We illustrate the framework on a toy example of biased image generation, showing how CTLF formulas can express concrete fairness properties at different points in the output series.