When Attention Becomes Exposure in Generative Search

Shayan Alipour, Mehdi Kargar, Morteza Zihayat
January 2026

Abstract

This paper explores how attention mechanisms in generative search systems translate to information exposure, examining the relationship between model attention and user exposure to different content.

Type
Conference paper
Publication
European Conference on Information Retrieval

This work investigates the connection between attention mechanisms and information exposure in generative search systems.

Generative Search Attention Mechanisms Information Exposure Large Language Models
Shayan Alipour
Shayan Alipour
Postdoc

Shayan Alipour is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Human-Centered Machine Intelligence Lab, working on research projects in machine learning and data science.

Morteza Zihayat
Morteza Zihayat
Principal Investigator

Dr. Morteza Zihayat is a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Human-Centered AI and Associate Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science. He also holds appointments as Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo (Management Sciences) and IBM Faculty Fellow at IBM Centre for Advanced Studies. He is the Director of the Human-Centered Machine Intelligence Lab.