让图像分类模型自己‘照镜子’,看清决策背后的特征变化。
Looking in the mirror: A faithful counterfactual explanation method for interpreting deep image classification models
- 在模型内部特征空间生成反事实解释,不依赖外部生成模型。
- 生成的反事实图像与原图相似度高,且决策可信度提升显著。
- 适合需要理解模型决策过程的AI可解释性研究者使用。
深度图像分类模型的反事实解释(CFE)旨在揭示微小输入变化如何导致不同分类结果,为模型理解和改进提供关键洞察。然而,现有方法通常依赖额外的图像编码器和生成模型来生成合理图像,忽略了分类器自身学习的特征空间和决策边界。为此,我们提出镜像反事实解释(Mirror-CFE),直接在分类器的特征空间中生成忠实的反事实解释,将决策边界视为镜面,反射特征表示。Mirror-CFE学习从特征空间到图像空间的映射函数,同时保持距离关系,实现源图像与其反事实之间的平滑过渡。在四个图像数据集上的大量实验表明,Mirror-CFE在解释有效性与输入相似度方面均优于当前最优方法。此外,该方法通过生成逐步过渡序列,可视化了分类置信度变化时特征的演变过程,揭示了分类器的决策机制。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Counterfactual explanations (CFE) for deep image classifiers aim to reveal how minimal input changes lead to different model decisions, providing critical insights for model interpretation and improvement. However, existing CFE methods often rely on additional image encoders and generative models to create plausible images, neglecting the classifier's own feature space and decision boundaries. As such, they do not explain the intrinsic feature space and decision boundaries learned by the classifier. To address this limitation, we propose Mirror-CFE, a novel method that generates faithful counterfactual explanations by operating directly in the classifier's feature space, treating decision boundaries as mirrors that ``reflect'' feature representations in the mirror. Mirror-CFE learns a mapping function from feature space to image space while preserving distance relationships, enabling smooth transitions between source images and their counterfactuals. Through extensive experiments on four image datasets, we demonstrate that Mirror-CFE achieves superior performance in validity while maintaining input resemblance compared to state-of-the-art explanation methods. Finally, mirror-CFE provides interpretable visualization of the classifier's decision process by generating step-wise transitions that reveal how features evolve as classification confidence changes.
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