Explain Like I'm 5 or Whatever I Choose: Evaluating the Potential for Interactive Complexity in Language Model Responses

arXiv:2606.06788v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Given the increased use of large language models (LLMs) for reading and seeking information and the varying needs and backgrounds of users, direct manipulation of text can be a valuable mechanism for end-user control. However, enabling direct manipulation requires that models generate text consistent with user-requested changes. We focus on one such setting, manipulating the complexity of scientific information, and ask if models can generate multiple summaries along a continuum of text complexity that enable effective user selection and control. Through a within-subjects user study, we identify reliable complexity measures and a criterion for how models should conform to these measures. We evaluate five LLMs of different families, sizes, and reasoning abilities on $557$ scientific queries. We find that while models can vary complexity across responses, most changes remain inconsistent, with models shifting the complexity measures in the correct direction at most $33.67$% of the time.