Overview of `black: A Tool-Oriented Conversational Dataset for Multi-Turn Agentic Planning
The paper introduces black‘,arobustdatasetandevaluationframeworkdesignedtoassesstheperformanceofLLM−basedagentsinmulti−turn,tool−usingconversationalsettings.Thefocusisonassessingagents′abilitiestomanagecomplexdependenciesbetweenvarioustoolcallsoverlongconversationalcontexts.DespiteadvancesinLLMs,effectiveplanninginvolvingAPIortooldependenciesacrossmulti−turndialoguesremainschallenging.The‘black
dataset serves as both a benchmark for evaluating open-source LLMs and a research facilitation tool for multi-domain conversational agents.
Dataset Description
black</code>comprises13.5kdialoguesandspansninedistinctdomains,includingflights,restaurants,hotels,attractions,andvariouscombinationsofthese,makingitacomprehensivemulti−domaindataset.Thedatasetincorporates14tools,allowingadetailedassessmentoftool−drivendialoguetasks.Thisframeworkemphasizescross−domaintasks,interdependenttoolcalls,andrequiresagentstoconsidertoolselectionandexecutionorderwithincontext.</p><p>Thedatasetconstructioninvolvedthecreationofconversationtemplateswhichwerethenlexicallyfilledwithreal−worlddatasourcedfromWikipediatomaintainthecontextandrealism.Entitiesincludeddataonairports,cities,neighborhoods,andsyntheticinformationforattributeslikeairlinenamesandhotelstarratings.</p><h3class=′paper−heading′>TechnicalContributions</h3><p>The<code>black
dataset's evaluation framework focuses on three main tasks: information seeking, parameter extraction, and tool calling.
- Information Seeking: Assessing the agent's ability to query and gather necessary parameters for successful tool execution.
- Parameter Extraction: Evaluating the agent's proficiency in extracting relevant parameters from the user’s dialogue.
- Tool Calling: Determining the capacity of agents to generate executable code using predefined tool calls based on extracted parameters.
A caching mechanism is integrated to optimize performance by allowing agents to reuse previously retrieved information, thereby reducing computational costs and improving scalability.
Experimental Evaluation
Experiments conducted with several LLMs, including domain-adapted LLaMA models, demonstrated that the black‘datasetcouldeffectivelyhighlightstrengthsandweaknessesinhandlingmulti−turnscenarios.The‘black
agent successfully showcased strong performance improvements over baseline models, particularly when fine-tuned with the dataset.
A notable observation was the impressive performance of LLaMA 3.3 70B Instruct in complex planning tasks, outperforming smaller models. The fine-tuned LLaMA 3.1 8B Instruct model also demonstrated significant gains, suggesting that task-specific fine-tuning is beneficial for enhancing model performance in complex conversational tool usage settings.
Implications and Future Directions
The black</code>datasetfillsacriticalgapbyprovidingarigorousbenchmarktailoredtoevaluatingLLM−basedagentsinchallengingdialoguesettingsinvolvingtooldependency.ItpavesthewayforfutureadvancementsinconversationalAI,especiallythosefocusingoneffectiveutilizationoftoolsetswithinmulti−turn,multi−domaincontexts.</p><p>ThefindingssupporttheneedformorecomplexevaluationframeworksthatcantestAIsystemsondynamicreplanningandadaptivereasoning—crucialforreal−worldapplications.Furthermore,thepublicreleaseofthedatasetwillfacilitatefutureresearcheffortsaimedatrefiningagenticLLMcapabilities.</p><p>Insummary,the<code>black
dataset represents a significant step towards understanding and enhancing the planning and reasoning capacities of LLMs when integrated with external tools. It will likely stimulate further innovation in intelligent agent design, potentially leading to more nuanced, context-aware AI systems.