LLM生成的解释质量受模型选择影响最大,而非XAI方法。
From XAI to Stories: A Factorial Study of LLM-Generated Explanation Quality
- 系统测试4种模型、3种XAI方法、3个LLM和8种提示策略
- DeepSeek-R1表现最佳,零样本提示成本低且效果不差
- 非专家用户难从XAI获益,且经典时序模型解释更差
可解释AI(XAI)方法如SHAP和LIME生成的数值特征重要性对非专家用户难以理解。已有研究显示大型语言模型(LLMs)可将这些输出转化为自然语言解释(NLE),但哪些因素影响解释质量尚不明确。本文开展系统性因子实验,考察预测模型选择、XAI方法、LLM选型与提示策略对NLE质量的影响。实验涵盖四种模型(XGBoost、随机森林、多层感知机、SARIMAX),三种XAI条件(SHAP、LIME、无XAI基线),三种LLM(GPT-4o、Llama-3-8B、DeepSeek-R1)及八种提示策略。基于双LLM评判的G-Eval评估方法,从四个维度评估660条时间序列预测解释。结果表明:(1)XAI仅对专家带来微弱提升;(2)LLM选型主导其他因素,DeepSeek-R1优于GPT-4o和Llama-3;(3)出现可解释性悖论——尽管SARIMAX预测准确率更高,其生成解释质量反而低于机器学习模型;(4)零样本提示在7倍更低成本下媲美自洽提示;(5)思维链提示反而降低解释质量。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Explainable AI (XAI) methods like SHAP and LIME produce numerical feature attributions that remain inaccessible to non expert users. Prior work has shown that Large Language Models (LLMs) can transform these outputs into natural language explanations (NLEs), but it remains unclear which factors contribute to high-quality explanations. We present a systematic factorial study investigating how Forecasting model choice, XAI method, LLM selection, and prompting strategy affect NLE quality. Our design spans four models (XGBoost (XGB), Random Forest (RF), Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), and SARIMAX - comparing black-box Machine-Learning (ML) against classical time-series approaches), three XAI conditions (SHAP, LIME, and a no-XAI baseline), three LLMs (GPT-4o, Llama-3-8B, DeepSeek-R1), and eight prompting strategies. Using G-Eval, an LLM-as-a-judge evaluation method, with dual LLM judges and four evaluation criteria, we evaluate 660 explanations for time-series forecasting. Our results suggest that: (1) XAI provides only small improvements over no-XAI baselines, and only for expert audiences; (2) LLM choice dominates all other factors, with DeepSeek-R1 outperforming GPT-4o and Llama-3; (3) we observe an interpretability paradox: in our setting, SARIMAX yielded lower NLE quality than ML models despite higher prediction accuracy; (4) zero-shot prompting is competitive with self-consistency at 7-times lower cost; and (5) chain-of-thought hurts rather than helps.
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