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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Proper Noun Failure: An Empirical Update on Evans' Law

Authors: Evans, Jennifer;

Proper Noun Failure: An Empirical Update on Evans' Law

Abstract

LLMs struggle with proper nouns, architecturallly. Evans’ Law (L ≈ 1969.8 × M^0.74) predicts coherence degradation in large language models relative to functional context capacity rather than advertised context window size. This paper reports the outcome of controlled testing initiated to support a formal withdrawal of the law’s formula on grounds of architectural divergence. Testing produced the opposite result: convergence. Six frontier models; Anthropic’s Sonnet 4.6, Opus 4.6, and Haiku 4.5, plus GPT-5.2, Grok, and Gemini, were observed in a simple multimodal proper noun production and verification task at baseline context. No model achieved a complete pass. The two embedded errors were each caught by exactly one model, and they were different models. The field has not diverged; it has converged on a shared verification floor. This paper formally withdraws the pending withdrawal, corrects the law’s scope to include task-type risk independent of context load, and documents a severity-level finding: GPT-5.2 produced three distinct first-turn proper noun failures within 72 hours at sub-10,000 tokens, each exhibiting confident confabulation rather than uncertainty acknowledgment. Gemini exhibited a separate failure category; complete processing failure on proper-noun-containing images, occurring twice in two days. This is a diagnostic finding, not a large-N study, but appears to demonstrate that the formula requires updated constants; the law is strengthened. 

Keywords

ChatGPT, Hallucinations, XAI, Semantic Failure, OpenAI, Grok, LLMs, Semantic Authority, Claude, Google, Proper Nouns, Gemini

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
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Average
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