Skip to content
← Back to explorer

AQuA: Toward Strategic Response Generation for Ambiguous Visual Questions

Jihyoung Jang, Hyounghun Kim · Mar 8, 2026 · Citations: 0

How to use this paper page

Coverage: Stale

Use this page to decide whether the paper is strong enough to influence an eval design. It summarizes the abstract plus available structured metadata. If the signal is thin, use it as background context and compare it against stronger hub pages before making protocol choices.

Best use

Background context only

Metadata: Stale

Trust level

Low

Signals: Stale

What still needs checking

Extraction flags indicate low-signal or possible false-positive protocol mapping.

Signal confidence: 0.15

Abstract

Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs). Existing VQA benchmarks primarily feature clear and unambiguous image-question pairs, whereas real-world scenarios often involve varying degrees of ambiguity that require nuanced reasoning and context-appropriate response strategies. Although recent studies have begun to address ambiguity in VQA, they lack (1) a systematic categorization of ambiguity levels and (2) datasets and models that support strategy-aware responses. In this paper, we introduce Ambiguous Visual Question Answering (AQuA), a fine-grained dataset that classifies ambiguous VQA instances into four levels according to the nature and degree of ambiguity, along with the optimal response strategy for each case. Our evaluation of diverse open-source and proprietary VLMs shows that most models fail to adapt their strategy to the ambiguity type, frequently producing overconfident answers rather than seeking clarification or acknowledging uncertainty. To address this challenge, we fine-tune VLMs on AQuA, enabling them to adaptively choose among multiple response strategies, such as directly answering, inferring intent from contextual cues, listing plausible alternatives, or requesting clarification. VLMs trained on AQuA achieve strategic response generation for ambiguous VQA, demonstrating the ability to recognize ambiguity, manage uncertainty, and respond with context-appropriate strategies, while outperforming both open-source and closed-source baselines.

Use caution before copying this protocol

Use this page for context, then validate protocol choices against stronger HFEPX references before implementation decisions.

  • Extraction flags indicate low-signal or possible false-positive protocol mapping.
  • Extraction confidence is 0.15 (below strong-reference threshold).
  • No explicit evaluation mode was extracted from available metadata.
  • No benchmark/dataset or metric anchors were extracted.

HFEPX Relevance Assessment

This paper is adjacent to HFEPX scope and is best used for background context, not as a primary protocol reference.

Best use

Background context only

Use if you need

Background context only.

Main weakness

Extraction flags indicate low-signal or possible false-positive protocol mapping.

Trust level

Low

Eval-Fit Score

0/100 • Low

Treat as adjacent context, not a core eval-method reference.

Human Feedback Signal

Not explicit in abstract metadata

Evaluation Signal

Weak / implicit signal

HFEPX Fit

Adjacent candidate

Extraction confidence: Low

What This Page Found In The Paper

Each field below shows whether the signal looked explicit, partial, or missing in the available metadata. Use this to judge what is safe to trust directly and what still needs full-paper validation.

Human Feedback Types

missing

None explicit

Confidence: Low Not found

No explicit feedback protocol extracted.

Evidence snippet: Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Evaluation Modes

missing

None explicit

Confidence: Low Not found

Validate eval design from full paper text.

Evidence snippet: Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Quality Controls

missing

Not reported

Confidence: Low Not found

No explicit QC controls found.

Evidence snippet: Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Benchmarks / Datasets

missing

Not extracted

Confidence: Low Not found

No benchmark anchors detected.

Evidence snippet: Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Reported Metrics

missing

Not extracted

Confidence: Low Not found

No metric anchors detected.

Evidence snippet: Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Rater Population

missing

Unknown

Confidence: Low Not found

Rater source not explicitly reported.

Evidence snippet: Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Human Data Lens

  • Uses human feedback: No
  • Feedback types: None
  • Rater population: Unknown
  • Unit of annotation: Unknown
  • Expertise required: General
  • Signal basis: Structured extraction plus abstract evidence.

Evaluation Lens

  • Evaluation modes:
  • Agentic eval: None
  • Quality controls: Not reported
  • Signal confidence: 0.15
  • Known cautions: low_signal, possible_false_positive

Protocol And Measurement Signals

Benchmarks / Datasets

No benchmark or dataset names were extracted from the available abstract.

Reported Metrics

No metric terms were extracted from the available abstract.

Research Brief

Metadata summary

Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

Based on abstract + metadata only. Check the source paper before making high-confidence protocol decisions.

Key Takeaways

  • Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a core task for evaluating the capabilities of Vision-Language Models (VLMs).
  • Existing VQA benchmarks primarily feature clear and unambiguous image-question pairs, whereas real-world scenarios often involve varying degrees of ambiguity that require nuanced reasoning and context-appropriate response strategies.
  • Although recent studies have begun to address ambiguity in VQA, they lack (1) a systematic categorization of ambiguity levels and (2) datasets and models that support strategy-aware responses.

Researcher Actions

  • Compare this paper against nearby papers in the same arXiv category before using it for protocol decisions.
  • Check the full text for explicit evaluation design choices (raters, protocol, and metrics).
  • Use related-paper links to find stronger protocol-specific references.

Caveats

  • Generated from abstract + metadata only; no PDF parsing.
  • Signals below are heuristic and may miss details reported outside the abstract.

Recommended Queries

Research Summary

Contribution Summary

  • Existing VQA benchmarks primarily feature clear and unambiguous image-question pairs, whereas real-world scenarios often involve varying degrees of ambiguity that require nuanced reasoning and context-appropriate response strategies.
  • In this paper, we introduce Ambiguous Visual Question Answering (AQuA), a fine-grained dataset that classifies ambiguous VQA instances into four levels according to the nature and degree of ambiguity, along with the optimal response…
  • Our evaluation of diverse open-source and proprietary VLMs shows that most models fail to adapt their strategy to the ambiguity type, frequently producing overconfident answers rather than seeking clarification or acknowledging uncertainty.

Why It Matters For Eval

  • Existing VQA benchmarks primarily feature clear and unambiguous image-question pairs, whereas real-world scenarios often involve varying degrees of ambiguity that require nuanced reasoning and context-appropriate response strategies.
  • Our evaluation of diverse open-source and proprietary VLMs shows that most models fail to adapt their strategy to the ambiguity type, frequently producing overconfident answers rather than seeking clarification or acknowledging uncertainty.

Researcher Checklist

  • Gap: Human feedback protocol is explicit

    No explicit human feedback protocol detected.

  • Gap: Evaluation mode is explicit

    No clear evaluation mode extracted.

  • Gap: Quality control reporting appears

    No calibration/adjudication/IAA control explicitly detected.

  • Gap: Benchmark or dataset anchors are present

    No benchmark/dataset anchor extracted from abstract.

  • Gap: Metric reporting is present

    No metric terms extracted.

Related Papers

Papers are ranked by protocol overlap, extraction signal alignment, and semantic proximity.

No related papers found for this item yet.

Get Started

Join the #1 Platform for AI Training Talent

Where top AI builders and expert AI Trainers connect to build the future of AI.
Self-Service
Post a Job
Post your project and get a shortlist of qualified AI Trainers and Data Labelers. Hire and manage your team in the tools you already use.
Managed Service
For Large Projects
Done-for-You
We recruit, onboard, and manage a dedicated team inside your tools. End-to-end operations for large or complex projects.
For Freelancers
Join as an AI Trainer
Find AI training and data labeling projects across platforms, all in one place. One profile, one application process, more opportunities.