mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Twin: Playing an Unknown Game with a Test-Time Digital Twin

arXiv 2608.14490 ↗First posted 14 Aug 2026cs.AIcited by 4

On the map: World models → World models for language agents

also in 1 more
Abstract (arXiv)

We present a Test-time World-model Inference (Twin) system, in which a frontier coding agent writes an executable world model for completing continual learning tasks, such as ARC-AGI-3 games. Traditional approaches hand-engineer such models, one custom design per task. Each game hides its rules and goal, and our system constructs them from simulation and interaction alone. Its inductive prior over grid games is strong enough to recover the true transitions of the game and the goal on nearly all levels. Replay validation happens in a twin world model. The harness enforces that an action is not made until the program reproduces every previous observed game transition. Each mismatch between a world model prediction and the actual action result becomes a counterexample that is used to repair the world model. Twin clears 179 out of 183 levels (97.8%), and does so more efficiently than humans in 158 out of 179 levels (88.3%). The system infers the goal before any reward on 156 of the levels it clears (87.2%), and in the remaining levels automatically discovers the goal by search. The benchmark scores completion and action efficiency, between 0 and 100, against humans playing each game for the first time. Played directly, the base model scores only 7.8%; an off-the-shelf harness increases it to 61.1%, whereas our twin world model increases the same base model to 93.3%, clearing 23 out of 25 games. Building a usable world model is simpler than anticipated, whereas the harder problem is inferring the right goal.

Key facts. Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in World models for language agents, one of 11 directions in World models. Builds on 28 of its 41 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Aug 2026.

Builds on

28 of 41 references.

Closest ancestors · 5

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2026OPINE-World: Programmatic World Modeling with Ontology-error-Prioritized Interactive Exploration for ARC-AGI-31 Jul
  2. 2026Executable World Models for ARC-AGI-3 in the Era of Coding Agents6 May
  3. 2025PoE-World: Compositional World Modeling with Products of Programmatic Experts16 May
  4. 2024Generating Code World Models with Large Language Models Guided by Monte Carlo Tree Search24 May
  5. 2024WorldCoder, a Model-Based LLM Agent: Building World Models by Writing Code and Interacting with the Environment19 Feb

Other references · 23

  1. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  2. 2021Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Codecited by 8,053
  3. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  4. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,155
  5. 2023Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Modelscited by 2,081
  6. 2024Scaling LLM Test-Time Compute Optimally can be More Effective than Scaling Model Parameterscited by 1,928
  7. 2018World Modelscited by 1,444
  8. 2023Mastering Diverse Domains through World Modelscited by 1,193
  9. 2023Teaching Large Language Models to Self-Debugcited by 963
  10. 2019Contrastive Learning of Structured World Modelscited by 206
  11. 2025ARC-AGI-2: A New Challenge for Frontier AI Reasoning Systemscited by 171
  12. 2020DreamCoder: Growing generalizable, interpretable knowledge with wake-sleep Bayesian program learningcited by 159
11 more
  1. 2019On the Measure of Intelligencecited by 129
  2. 2023Hypothesis Search: Inductive Reasoning with Language Modelscited by 119
  3. 2024ARC Prize 2024: Technical Reportcited by 103
  4. 2025Recursive Language Modelscited by 94
  5. 2024Combining Induction and Transduction for Abstract Reasoningcited by 53
  6. 2024Code Repair with LLMs gives an Exploration-Exploitation Tradeoffcited by 50
  7. 2026Continual Harness: Online Adaptation for Self-Improving Foundation Agentscited by 30
  8. 2026ARC-AGI-3: A New Challenge for Frontier Agentic Intelligencecited by 29
  9. 2026PRO-LONG: Programmatic Memory Enables Long-Horizon Reasoningcited by 9
  10. 2022Optimistic MLE -- A Generic Model-based Algorithm for Partially Observable Sequential Decision Makingcited by 6
  11. 2025Graph-Based Exploration for ARC-AGI-3 Interactive Reasoning Taskscited by 6

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 4.

4 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026Tycho: Active Abstraction with Programmatic World Models for ARC-AGI-3
  2. 2025Assessing Adaptive World Models in Machines with Novel Games
  3. 2026PlayWorld: Benchmarking World Models with Agent Players over Long-Horizon Objectives
  4. 2026Towards Improving Sequential Decision-Making in LLM Agents via Experience Memory
  5. 2026AutoWorldModel-Bench: A State-Centric Benchmark for Automated World-Model Research
  6. 2026Self-Play Search Distillation for Large Language Model Reasoning
  7. 2025Simulus: Combining Improvements in Sample-Efficient World Model Agents
  8. 2026Witness: Discovery, Deciphering, and Epiphany in Interactive Puzzle Environments