Skip to content
AI Atlas
PaperActive

Published Unlearning Numbers Move Per Checkpoint, and Not Because the Removed Data Survives: An Audit of 263 Released Batch-Normalized Checkpoints

arxiv.org/abs/2609.11490

quality89

Updated 2 h ago · first seen 11 Sept 2026

paper_01M294FR005FQ4982XE9C8N94Y

Published
11 Sept 2026
T1 · 2 h ago
arXiv
2609.11490
T1 · 2 h ago
Category
cs.AI
T1 · 2 h ago

Abstract

An unlearning audit reads its verdict off numbers that an unlearned model and its retrained reference each publish, and both also ship batch-normalization statistics that no gradient step wrote and no release records. Refitting them on kept data at bit-identical weights moves 47 of 221 released checkpoints past the spread their own release's seeds show, several inside a method whose average does not move: what moves is the checkpoint's property, not its method's. What does the moving is not the removed data surviving in the state: exchanging kept records for removed ones inside a fixed fitting pool moves a published cell by almost nothing, while how far a checkpoint's shipped state has drifted from any refit does track it. The consequence for a published decision is real but narrow: twelve verdicts cross, four clear a measured recalibration budget, two clear it on every replicate, and a population we trained and sited near its own criterion yields none. A release should therefore name the fitting convention beside the number, on the batch-normalized vision models where this channel exists.

Authors 1

Junlong Shen Xingyu Li

Specification

Official page

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

Arxiv announce type
cross

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

arXiv id
2609.11490

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

Categories
cs.AI, cs.LG

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

PDF

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

Primary category
cs.AI

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

Published
11 Sept 2026

Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh

Each value shows its source, tier and observation time. Conflicting claims are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. How AI Atlas records facts →

Provenance

Attributed facts

9

Source tiers

T19

Freshest observation

2 h ago

Conflicts

None