检验机器学习解释的稳定性,发现多数方法不可靠。
Are machine learning interpretations reliable? A stability study on global interpretations
- 通过小扰动测试解释结果的一致性
- 主流解释方法比预测本身更不稳定
- 解释可靠性与模型准确率无关
随着机器学习在高风险领域应用增多,可解释性成为提升信任的关键。为此发展了多种可解释机器学习(IML)方法,但其可靠性存疑。本文提出:解释是否稳定是可靠性的前提。通过首次大规模实证研究,考察了表格式数据上监督与无监督任务中主流全局解释方法的稳定性。结果显示,多数解释方法极不稳定,显著低于预测本身的稳定性;且模型预测准确率与解释稳定性无关联。不同数据集上也不存在始终最稳定的单一方法。研究强调仅具备可解释性不足以建立信任,呼吁未来工作需严格评估解释稳定性。为此,作者开源了IML仪表盘与Python工具包,供研究人员自检解释结果的可靠性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
As machine learning systems are increasingly used in high-stakes domains, there is a growing emphasis placed on making them interpretable to improve trust in these systems. In response, a range of interpretable machine learning (IML) methods have been developed to generate human-understandable insights into otherwise black box models. With these methods, a fundamental question arises: Are these interpretations reliable? Unlike with prediction accuracy or other evaluation metrics for supervised models, the proximity to the true interpretation is difficult to define. Instead, we ask a closely related question that we argue is a prerequisite for reliability: Are these interpretations stable? We define stability as findings that are consistent or reliable under small random perturbations to the data or algorithms. In this study, we conduct the first systematic, large-scale empirical stability study on popular machine learning global interpretations for both supervised and unsupervised tasks on tabular data. Our findings reveal that popular interpretation methods are frequently unstable, notably less stable than the predictions themselves, and that there is no association between the accuracy of machine learning predictions and the stability of their associated interpretations. Moreover, we show that no single method consistently provides the most stable interpretations across a range of benchmark datasets. Overall, these results suggest that interpretability alone does not warrant trust, and underscores the need for rigorous evaluation of interpretation stability in future work. To support these principles, we have developed and released an open source IML dashboard and Python package to enable researchers to assess the stability and reliability of their own data-driven interpretations and discoveries.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。