mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Graph-Based Exploration for ARC-AGI-3 Interactive Reasoning Tasks

arXiv 2512.24156 ↗First posted 30 Dec 2025cs.AIcited by 6

On the map: LLM reasoning → Multimodal reasoning

Abstract (arXiv)

We present a training-free graph-based approach for solving interactive reasoning tasks in the ARC-AGI-3 benchmark. ARC-AGI-3 comprises game-like tasks where agents must infer task mechanics through limited interactions, and adapt to increasing complexity as levels progress. Success requires forming hypotheses, testing them, and tracking discovered mechanics. The benchmark has revealed that state-of-the-art LLMs are currently incapable of reliably solving these tasks. Our method combines vision-based frame processing with systematic state-space exploration using graph-structured representations. It segments visual frames into meaningful components, prioritizes actions based on visual salience, and maintains a directed graph of explored states and transitions. By tracking visited states and tested actions, the agent prioritizes actions that provide the shortest path to untested state-action pairs. On the ARC-AGI-3 Preview Challenge, this structured exploration strategy solves a median of 30 out of 52 levels across six games and ranks 3rd on the private leaderboard, substantially outperforming frontier LLM-based agents. These results demonstrate that explicit graph-structured exploration, even without learning, can serve as a strong baseline for interactive reasoning and underscore the importance of systematic state tracking and action prioritization in sparse-feedback environments where current LLMs fail to capture task dynamics. The code is open source and available at https://github.com/dolphin-in-a-coma/arc-agi-3-just-explore.

Key facts. Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Multimodal reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 8 of its 10 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 30 Dec 2025.

Builds on

8 of 10 references.

References · 8

  1. 2019Mastering Atari, Go, Chess and Shogi by Planning with a Learned Modelcited by 1,327
  2. 2017Curiosity-driven Exploration by Self-supervised Predictioncited by 1,173
  3. 2020First return, then explorecited by 256
  4. 2021Mastering Atari Games with Limited Datacited by 235
  5. 2023Bigger, Better, Faster: Human-level Atari with human-level efficiencycited by 145
  6. 2025Training Agents Inside of Scalable World Modelscited by 122
  7. 2025Assessing Adaptive World Models in Machines with Novel Gamescited by 20
  8. 2025AXIOM: Learning to Play Games in Minutes with Expanding Object-Centric Modelscited by 3

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 6.

6 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026ARC-AGI-3: A New Challenge for Frontier Agentic Intelligence
  2. 2026MAP: A Map-then-Act Paradigm for Long-Horizon Interactive Agent Reasoning
  3. 2025CubeBench: Diagnosing Interactive, Long-Horizon Spatial Reasoning Under Partial Observations
  4. 2025ARCTraj: A Dataset and Benchmark of Human Reasoning Trajectories for Abstract Problem Solving
  5. 2025SAG-Agent: Enabling Long-Horizon Reasoning in Strategy Games via Dynamic Knowledge Graphs
  6. 2026Cost-Effective Agent Harnesses for Abstract Reasoning and Generalization on ARC-AGI-1
  7. 2025ARC-AGI-2: A New Challenge for Frontier AI Reasoning Systems
  8. 2026Atomic Task Graph: A Unified Framework for Agentic Planning and Execution