Structured Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Large Language Models with Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and DualJudge

arXiv cs.AI / 4/7/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper proposes a structured evaluation method for large language models by adapting Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to decompose judgments into explicit criteria rather than relying on opaque direct scoring.
  • It introduces a confidence-aware Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) that represents epistemic uncertainty using triangular fuzzy numbers and uses LLM-generated confidence scores to modulate uncertainty during aggregation.
  • Evaluations on JudgeBench show that both crisp and fuzzy AHP approaches outperform direct scoring across model scales and dataset splits, with FAHP delivering more stable results when comparisons are uncertain.
  • The authors further develop DualJudge, a hybrid framework that fuses holistic direct scores with AHP outputs using consistency-aware weighting inspired by Dual-Process Theory.
  • The work claims state-of-the-art performance for DualJudge and provides released code to support reproducibility and adoption.

Abstract

Effective evaluation of large language models (LLMs) remains a critical bottleneck, as conventional direct scoring often yields inconsistent and opaque judgments. In this work, we adapt the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to LLM-based evaluation and, more importantly, propose a confidence-aware Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) extension that models epistemic uncertainty via triangular fuzzy numbers modulated by LLM-generated confidence scores. Systematically validated on JudgeBench, our structured approach decomposes assessments into explicit criteria and incorporates uncertainty-aware aggregation, producing more calibrated judgments. Extensive experiments demonstrate that both crisp and fuzzy AHP consistently outperform direct scoring across model scales and dataset splits, with FAHP showing superior stability in uncertain comparison scenarios. Building on these insights, we propose \textbf{DualJudge}, a hybrid framework inspired by Dual-Process Theory that adaptively fuses holistic direct scores with structured AHP outputs via consistency-aware weighting. DualJudge achieves state-of-the-art performance, underscoring the complementary strengths of intuitive and deliberative evaluation paradigms. These results establish uncertainty-aware structured reasoning as a principled pathway toward more reliable LLM assessment. Code is available at https://github.com/hreyulog/AHP_llm_judge.