image: Researchers used an economic model to understand how large language models classify hate speech.
Credit: Kowalski7cc on Wikimedia (CC0)
PHILADELPHIA, May 12, 2026 — Spend enough time on the internet, and you’ll likely encounter some pretty appalling content. Hate speech tends to flourish on social media and in online communities, particularly those with little to no moderation. Even on sites with strict community standards, the volume of content makes effective moderation nearly impossible.
Large language models (LLMs) may be able to solve this problem. These AI algorithms can rapidly analyze both the content and the context of large volumes of text, filter hate speech automatically, and provide feedback to human reviewers. However, LLMs are expensive to run at scale, especially when asked to provide explanations for each piece of content they flag.
Yuan Zhao from the New Jersey Institute of Technology will present his research on creating an interpretable and low-cost method for evaluating LLMs’ hate speech classification Tuesday, May 12, at 1:30 p.m. ET as part of the 190th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, running May 11-15.
Zhao’s framework relies on the Rational Inattention (RI) model, an economic idea developed to explain human behavior. The model describes how humans act when their attention is limited and assigns a cost to that attention. According to the model, people tend to reserve their attention for high-reward decisions, spending it where it would have the greatest effect.
And while LLMs are not humans, these ideas of attention and decision-making can still be applied.
“LLMs are different from people, but we envision them as decision-makers facing some trade-off between performance and computational cost,” said Zhao. “Our approach uses the RI model as a simple yet interpretable tool to understand how LLMs make decisions.”
Zhao tested LLMs in a range of conditions to determine whether they behave like rational decision-makers. Then, he used the RI model to mimic the behavior of those LLMs, finding that it accurately predicts how LLM performance changes in different conditions.
This analysis can be utilized to guide digital communities using LLMs as part of their content moderation efforts.
“LLMs are already widely used, but there are still concerns about their reliability. Models like Rational Inattention can help make them more trustworthy by showing how their performance changes when text becomes ambiguous or intentionally disguised,” said Zhao. “This helps online platforms identify when human review is needed and where the system needs improvement.”
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Main Meeting Website: https://acousticalsociety.org/philadelphia/
Technical Program: https://eppro01.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASASPRING2026
ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.
LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are summaries (300-500 words) of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.
PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to the in-person conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown for credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting and/or press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org. For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.
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