Story · arXiv (via papers.cool)
When Tools Get in the Way: The Effect of Unnecessary Tool Availability on LLM Answering (arXiv (via papers.cool))
paper · Story page
Across 3,000 baseline trials the pooled answer rate is 98.2%; add a related but unnecessary tool and it falls to 63.5%. The drop holds even when the tool is rarely called.
In plain words
- A study found that artificial intelligence systems answered fewer questions when unnecessary outside software was available.
- Researchers tested questions the systems could answer using information they already had.
- Answers became less frequent even when systems rarely used the extra software, suggesting access alone could affect answering.
- For builders, the findings suggest that offering extra tools can interfere with questions their software could already answer.
Appeared in
- A shell beats a typed tool catalog, and agents barely report their work
Sep 16, 2026 · in the sections
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