# First Ask Then Answer: A Framework Design for AI Dialogue Based on Supplementary Questioning with Large Language Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08308 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08308/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 11 of its 17 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Aug 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [Self-Consistency Improves Chain of Thought Reasoning in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.11171/) (2022)
- [Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.04761/) (2023)
- [Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.10601/) (2023)
- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Large Language Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.10997/) (2023)
- [Measuring and Narrowing the Compositionality Gap in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03350/) (2022)
- [Rephrase and Respond: Let Large Language Models Ask Better Questions for Themselves](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04205/) (2023)
- [Modeling Future Conversation Turns to Teach LLMs to Ask Clarifying Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13788/) (2024)
- [CLAM: Selective Clarification for Ambiguous Questions with Generative Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.07769/) (2022)
- [A New Dialogue Response Generation Agent for Large Language Models by Asking Questions to Detect User's Intentions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03293/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [When and What to Ask: AskBench and Rubric-Guided RLVR for LLM Clarification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.11199/) (2026)
- [Ask or Answer: A Decision Framework for Multi-Turn Health Misinformation Intervention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.21721/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large Language Models (LLMs) often struggle to deliver accurate and actionable answers when user-provided information is incomplete or ill-specified. We propose a new interaction paradigm, First Ask Then Answer (FATA), in which, through prompt words, LLMs are guided to proactively generate multidimensional supplementary questions for users prior to response generation. Subsequently, by integrating user-provided supplementary information with the original query through sophisticated prompting techniques, we achieve substantially improved response quality and relevance. In contrast to existing clarification approaches -- such as the CLAM framework oriented to ambiguity and the self-interrogation Self-Ask method -- FATA emphasizes completeness (beyond mere disambiguation) and user participation (inviting human input instead of relying solely on model-internal reasoning). It also adopts a single-turn strategy: all clarifying questions are produced at once, thereby reducing dialogue length and improving efficiency. Conceptually, FATA uses the reasoning power of LLMs to scaffold user expression, enabling non-expert users to formulate more comprehensive and contextually relevant queries. To evaluate FATA, we constructed a multi-domain benchmark and compared it with two controls: a baseline prompt (B-Prompt) and a context-enhanced expert prompt (C-Prompt). Experimental results show that FATA outperforms B-Prompt by approximately 40% in aggregate metrics and exhibits a coefficient of variation 8% lower than C-Prompt, indicating superior stability.