Large Language Models Can Follow Instructions, But Not Many at Once: Phase Transitions in Compositional Constraint Satisfaction

Abstract

arXiv:2608.12426v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Large language models are increasingly deployed in settings that require simultaneous adherence to multiple explicit constraints - reasoning structure, safety boundaries, output schemas. Individual constraints are handled proficiently, but the compositional regime, where many must hold jointly, remains poorly characterized: how rapidly does performance degrade, what governs the degradation, and can the collapse be mitigated? We introduce Constraint