Watson: A Cognitive Observability Framework for the Reasoning of LLM-Powered Agents
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into autonomous systems, giving rise to a new class of software known as “Agentware”, where LLM-powered agents perform complex, open-ended tasks in domains such as software engineering, customer service, and data analysis. However, their high autonomy and opaque reasoning processes pose significant challenges for traditional software observability methods. To address this, we introduce the concept of cognitive observability - the ability to recover and inspect the implicit reasoning behind agent decisions. We present Watson, a general-purpose framework for observing the reasoning processes of fast-thinking LLM agents without altering their behavior. Watson retroactively infers reasoning traces using prompt attribution techniques. We evaluate Watson in both manual debugging and automated correction scenarios across the MMLU benchmark and the AutoCodeRover agent on the SWE-bench-lite dataset. In both static and dynamic settings, Watson surfaces actionable reasoning insights and supports targeted interventions, demonstrating its practical utility for improving transparency and reliability in Agentware systems.
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Tue 18 NovDisplayed time zone: Seoul change
11:00 - 12:30 | |||
11:00 10mTalk | Learning Project-wise Subsequent Code Edits via Interleaving Neural-based Induction and Tool-based Deduction Research Papers Chenyan Liu Shanghai Jiao Tong University; National University of Singapore, Yun Lin Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Yuhuan Huang Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Jiaxin Chang Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Binhang Qi National University of Singapore, Bo Jiang Bytedance Network Technology, Zhiyong Huang National University of Singapore, Jin Song Dong National University of Singapore | ||
11:10 10mTalk | Coding-Fuse: Efficient Fusion of Code Pre‑Trained Models for Classification Tasks Research Papers Yu Zhao , Lina Gong Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautic, Zhiqiu Huang Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Yuchen Jin Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mingqiang Wei Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics | ||
11:20 10mTalk | SE-Jury: An LLM-as-Ensemble-Judge Metric for Narrowing the Gap with Human Evaluation in SE Research Papers Xin Zhou Singapore Management University, Singapore, Kisub Kim DGIST, Ting Zhang Monash University, Martin Weyssow Singapore Management University, Luis F. Gomes Carnegie Mellon University, Guang Yang , Kui Liu Huawei, Xin Xia Zhejiang University, David Lo Singapore Management University | ||
11:30 10mTalk | iKnow: an Intent-Guided Chatbot for Cloud Operations with Retrieval-Augmented Generation Research Papers Junjie Huang The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yuedong Zhong Sun Yat-sen University, Guangba Yu The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zhihan Jiang The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Minzhi Yan HCC Lab, Huawei Cloud Computing Technology Co., Ltd, Wenfei Luan HCC Lab, Huawei Cloud Computing Technology Co., Ltd, Tianyu Yang HCC Lab, Huawei Cloud Computing Technology Co., Ltd, Rui Ren Computing and Networking Innovation Lab, Huawei Cloud Computing Technology Co., Ltd, Michael Lyu The Chinese University of Hong Kong | ||
11:40 10mTalk | Aligning LLMs to Fully Utilize the Cross-file Context in Repository-level Code Completion Research Papers Jia Li Tsinghua University, Hao Zhu Peking University, Huanyu Liu , Xianjie Shi Peking University, He Zong aiXcoder, Yihong Dong Peking University, Kechi Zhang Peking University, China, Siyuan Jiang , Zhi Jin Peking University, Ge Li Peking University | ||
11:50 10mTalk | From Sparse to Structured: A Diffusion-Enhanced and Feature-Aligned Framework for Coincidental Correctness Detection Research Papers Huan Xie Chongqing University, Chunyan Liu Chongqing University, Yan Lei Chongqing University, Zhenyu Wu School of Big Data & Software Engineering, Chongqing University, Jinping Wang Chonqing University | ||
12:00 10mTalk | Watson: A Cognitive Observability Framework for the Reasoning of LLM-Powered Agents Research Papers Benjamin Rombaut Centre for Software Excellence, Huawei Canada, Sogol Masoumzadeh Mcgill University, Kirill Vasilevski Huawei Canada, Dayi Lin Centre for Software Excellence, Huawei Canada, Ahmed E. Hassan Queen’s University | ||
12:10 10mTalk | Understanding Software Engineering Agents: A Study of Thought-Action-Result Trajectories Research Papers Islem BOUZENIA University of Stuttgart, Michael Pradel CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security | ||
12:20 10mTalk | Triangle: Empowering Incident Triage with Multi-Agent Research Papers Zhaoyang Yu Tsinghua University, Aoyang Fang Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Minghua Ma Microsoft, Jaskaran Singh Walia Microsoft, Chaoyun Zhang Microsoft, Shu Chi Tsinghua University, Ze Li Microsoft Azure, Murali Chintalapati Microsoft Azure, Xuchao Zhang Microsoft, Rujia Wang Microsoft, Chetan Bansal Microsoft Research, Saravan Rajmohan Microsoft, Qingwei Lin Microsoft, Shenglin Zhang Nankai University, Dan Pei Tsinghua University, Pinjia He Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen | ||