LLMs as Assistants for Data Annotation: Addressing Disagreement and Supporting Expert Processes

Mark Andrade, Bláithín Heffernan, Abigail Walsh, Sheila Castilho


Abstract
This paper investigates the potential of Large Language Models to assist human annotation pipelines, with a particular focus on supporting the development of expert-informed annotation guidelines for document-level content categorisation. We present three experiments exploring distinct roles for LLMs in annotation: as annotators, as domain experts assisting in disagreement resolution, and as analysts of annotator discussions. Using GPT-4.5 and Claude Sonnet 4, we evaluate LLM-generated annotation guidelines for a document-level classification tasks in terms of coverage, applicability, and usefulness. Preliminary results are mixed-to-positive, with evidence that LLMs can provide useful support across different stages of the annotation pipeline, particularly when supplied with rich contextual information such as prior human annotations and annotator discussions. However, their effectiveness remains sensitive to prompting strategies and input configuration.
Anthology ID:
2026.resourceful-4.7
Volume:
Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on the Role of Resources in the Age of Large Language Models (RESOURCEFUL 2026)
Month:
May
Year:
2026
Address:
Palma, Mallorca (Spain)
Editors:
Felix Morger, Nikolai Ilinykh, Barbara Scalvini, Simon Dobnik, Dana Dannélls
Venues:
RESOURCEFUL | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA Language Resources Association (ELRA)
Note:
Pages:
62–72
Language:
External URL:
https://lrec.elra.info/lrec2026-ws-resourceful-07
DOI:
10.63317/4gq9fnt5umo3
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Mark Andrade, Bláithín Heffernan, Abigail Walsh, and Sheila Castilho. 2026. LLMs as Assistants for Data Annotation: Addressing Disagreement and Supporting Expert Processes. In Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on the Role of Resources in the Age of Large Language Models (RESOURCEFUL 2026), pages 62–72, Palma, Mallorca (Spain). ELRA Language Resources Association (ELRA).
Cite (Informal):
LLMs as Assistants for Data Annotation: Addressing Disagreement and Supporting Expert Processes (Andrade et al., RESOURCEFUL 2026)
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