LLM Semantic Signaling Game and Mechanism Design: Systematic Blindness, Awareness Shaping, and Mindset Dynamics
Quanyan Zhu
Abstract
Large language models (LLMs) increasingly mediate strategic interactions through natural language, making semantic control a critical element of communication and deception. This paper develops a semantic signaling game in which a sender selects a semantic control, an LLM generates a stochastic message, and a receiver evaluates the message using an awareness-dependent scoring mechanism. Receiver awareness is modeled as a type that determines which linguistic features are perceived and used for inference, providing a formal model of systematic blindness. The framework connects prompt-based control, statistical detection, and game-theoretic equilibrium analysis. Gaussian approximations of aggregate message scores enable likelihood-ratio decision rules, while Perfect Bayesian Nash equilibria characterize strategic behavior. The paper further develops mechanism-design approaches that reshape receiver awareness, penalize deceptive semantic controls, and modify receiver populations to induce benign pooling equilibria. Numerical experiments validate the Gaussian approximation, quantify awareness-ordering effects, analyze mindset dynamics under adaptive adversaries, and demonstrate how awareness shaping and guardrail costs reduce successful phishing attacks. The proposed framework provides a principled foundation for analyzing strategic language-mediated interactions in agentic AI systems and offers new tools for the design of robust and secure human-AI communication.
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Classified with taxonomy v2 on Sat, 5 Sept 2026.