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

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: arxiv.org/abs/2609.11490
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
Arxiv announce type: cross
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
arXiv id: 2609.11490
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
Categories: cs.AI, cs.LG
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
PDF: arxiv.org/pdf/2609.11490
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
Primary category: cs.AI
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh
Published: 11 Sept 2026
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 4 h agohigh

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Provenance

Attributed facts

9

Source tiers

T19

Freshest observation

4 h ago

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Authors: Junlong Shen Xingyu Li

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Claim history · Abstract

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Abstractabstract1

Claim history for Abstract
Value	Valid from → to	Status	Source	Confidence	Extractor
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.	11 Sept 2026 21:02 UTC → current	current	arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1	high	deterministic

Claims are temporal and append-only: a new observation closes the previous claim (valid_to) instead of overwriting it. Conflicting claims from different sources are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. Methodology →

11 Sept 2026
New paperPaperPublished Unlearning Numbers Move Per Checkpoint, and Not Because the Removed Data Survives: An Audit of 263 Released Batch-Normalized Checkpoints
New paper: Published Unlearning Numbers Move Per Checkpoint, and Not Because the Removed Data Survives: An Audit of 263 Released Batch-Normalized Checkpoints
arxiv
rss.arxiv.org

Full timeline →

Source documents
Source	Document	Type	Tier	Last observed	Snapshots
arXiv (Atom API + RSS)	rss.arxiv.org/rss/cs.LG	feed	T1· Official	2 h ago	1

Tier 1 = official/primary, 2 = quality secondary, 3 = community, 4 = unverified. Every snapshot is archived; see all sources and the methodology.