# Vision Language Models as Values Detectors

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.03957 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.03957/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in VLM benchmarks and visual reasoning, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models.
- Builds on 4 of its 9 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Jan 2025.

## Placed in

- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [VLM benchmarks and visual reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/vlm-benchmarks-and-visual-reasoning/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08485/) (2023)
- [Improved Baselines with Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03744/) (2023)
- [I Was Blind but Now I See: Implementing Vision-Enabled Dialogue in Social Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.08957/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Prompt-Based Value Steering of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.16688/) (2025)
- [ConflictBench: Evaluating Human-AI Conflict via Interactive and Visually Grounded Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.08024/) (2026)
- [MAVEN: A Macro-Societal Value Evaluation Framework of Multimodal Content with Compact Aligned Evaluators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.18096/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large Language Models integrating textual and visual inputs have introduced new possibilities for interpreting complex data. Despite their remarkable ability to generate coherent and contextually relevant text based on visual stimuli, the alignment of these models with human perception in identifying relevant elements in images requires further exploration. This paper investigates the alignment between state-of-the-art LLMs and human annotators in detecting elements of relevance within home environment scenarios. We created a set of twelve images depicting various domestic scenarios and enlisted fourteen annotators to identify the key element in each image. We then compared these human responses with outputs from five different LLMs, including GPT-4o and four LLaVA variants. Our findings reveal a varied degree of alignment, with LLaVA 34B showing the highest performance but still scoring low. However, an analysis of the results highlights the models' potential to detect value-laden elements in images, suggesting that with improved training and refined prompts, LLMs could enhance applications in social robotics, assistive technologies, and human-computer interaction by providing deeper insights and more contextually relevant responses.