INESC TEC paper revealing bias in language models wins award at IEEE conference 

A scientific paper on cognitive bias in large language models (LLMs), led by INESC TEC, has been recognised among more than 1,000 submissions at one of the IEEE’s largest conferences, held in China. 

The research found that confirmation bias in Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) is present across several models, “ranging from 15% to 67%”, and was honoured with the Best Conference Paper Award at the CSCWD – Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design. 

INESC TEC researcher Rafael Ris-Ala is the lead author of the paper Confirmation Bias in Large Language Models: Risks for Clinical Decision Support Systems, which will be published shortly. The paper was co-authored by fellow INESC TEC researchers Gonçalo Gonçalves, Dennis Paulino, Thiago Netto, Diogo Guimarães, Olavo Teixeira, Artur Rocha and Hugo Paredes. 

“This result was made possible thanks to the support and collaboration between INESC TEC, the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, and the University of Cape Verde/RS2Lab” said Rafael Ris-Ala. 

In the paper, the researchers argue that bias in LLMs may stem from the “training data, the Transformer architecture, model configuration, or prompt engineering itself”. 

“Particularly in the healthcare context, where this technology is integrated into Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), the validation process becomes essential to ensure patient safety and the reliability of AI-assisted decision-making,” explained the INESC TEC researcher. 

The 29th edition of CSCWD 2026 took place in the Chinese city of Fuzhou from 13 to 15 May and addressed strategic topics such as AI, the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and cybersecurity. Organised by Fuyao University, the conference highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in the development of increasingly complex technologies and systems. 

INESC TEC researcher and UTAD lecturer Hugo Paredes attended the conference in Fuzhou on behalf of the authors and brought the award back to Portugal.