A Guide to Best Explainable AI Techniques

Explainable AI: Understanding the Best Techniques for Transparency

Author: Inza Khan

As AI continues to advance, the need for explainable AI grows, not only to enhance model accuracy but also to detect and address potential biases. Explainable AI plays an important role in demystifying AI models by offering insights into their algorithms and outputs. It bridges the gap between the opaque nature of AI algorithms and the need for transparency and understanding. In a world where AI-driven decisions impact various aspects of our lives, the inability to understand why AI models make certain decisions poses significant challenges. Therefore, explainable AI emerges as a crucial step towards addressing this issue and building trust in AI systems.

Despite advancements in AI technology, the lack of transparency and interpretability in AI models persists as a challenge. Black box AI models operate without offering explanations for their decisions, leaving users unable to understand the reasoning behind the outputs. This opacity hampers our ability to validate the trustworthiness of AI-driven decisions and raises concerns about potential biases within the models. Explainable AI addresses these issues, offering clarity and understanding where there was once opacity.

In the subsequent section of this blog, we will explore 16 major explainable AI techniques.

Top 16 Explainable AI Techniques

1. SHAP

SHAP, short for Shapley Additive exPlanations, is a framework rooted in game theory principles. It helps explain how any model makes its predictions, no matter how complex it is. By using Shapley values, which are usually used to fairly distribute rewards in cooperative games, SHAP gives straightforward explanations for model predictions. This makes it very useful for both researchers and practitioners. As an additive feature attribution method, SHAP breaks down the contribution of each input feature to the model’s output. It works well with different types of models, especially tree ensembles, and provides explanations at both global and local levels. This makes it a valuable tool in various fields, from healthcare to finance and autonomous vehicles, helping people understand and trust AI systems better.

2. LIME

Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME) is a useful technique for understanding complex model predictions. It provides explanations for individual predictions by creating a simpler model around each instance’s neighborhood. By perturbing data points and generating synthetic data, LIME builds a simplified approximation of the model highlighting how different features affect the outcome creating transparency for users. It’s versatile and can be applied to various types of models, making it valuable in fields like healthcare and finance where understanding individual predictions is crucial. LIME’s insights into the decision space of black-box models also contribute to overall model improvement and refinement.

3. Feature Importance

Feature Importance is a fundamental technique in explainable AI that breaks down a model’s decisions by showing the importance of specific input factors. Tree based models automatically have this feature by comparing how each feature contributes to the training of the model. For example, if a model predicts loan defaults, Feature Importance helps identify key factors like credit score or income level that influence the decision. This clarity helps uncover biases and areas for improvement, building trust in AI systems by showing how decisions are made. Feature Importance also plays a role in advancing explainable AI by providing a solid foundation for further innovation and discovery in interpretability techniques.

4. Permutation Importance

Permutation Importance is a useful tool for understanding AI models, especially in figuring out which features matter most. It works by seeing how much model performance is impacted by randomly changing values in a single feature, showing how important each one is for accurate predictions. It’s straightforward to use and works with different types of models and metrics. While it gives a broad view of feature importance across the whole dataset, it might miss some details. But when used alongside other techniques like SHAP or LIME for more detailed insights, Permutation Importance helps paint a fuller picture of how models work. It’s widely used across industries like finance, healthcare, and marketing to find critical features, spot biases, and improve model performance, making it a key part of explainable AI.

5. Partial Dependence Plot

Partial Dependence Plot (PDP) is a useful tool that shows how one or two features affect the predictions of a machine learning model. It does this by changing the values of the chosen features while keeping others constant, helping users visualize how these changes impact the model’s predictions. PDPs are straightforward and efficient, but it’s important to remember they assume independence between features, which can be misleading if not true. Despite this, PDPs are widely used in industries like finance and healthcare to understand feature effects on predictions. However, they might not capture individual prediction details or local feature interactions. To address this, researchers often combine PDPs with techniques like SHAP or LIME for a fuller picture of model behavior.

6. Accumulated Local Effects (ALE)

Accumulated Local Effects (ALE) is a method that computes how individual features affect model predictions. Unlike Partial Dependence Plots (PDP), which provide insights into the total effect of a feature, ALE highlights the local effect of the feature by limiting the range of mutations on the feature. It’s good at showing the overall importance of features on realistic values, helping users identify important variables for decision-making. ALE helps highlight the first and second-order effects of feature changes on a model. ALE is widely used in various industries, like healthcare, to understand how patient characteristics influence outcomes. While ALE provides useful insights, it’s important to use it alongside other techniques like SHAP or LIME for a complete understanding of model behavior.

7. Explainable Boosting Machine (EBM)

Explainable Boosting Machine (EBM) is an important advancement in explainable AI, blending modern machine learning with traditional statistical techniques to analyze complex relationships in data. It offers both global and local interpretability, operating as a tree-based, cyclic gradient-boosting Generalized Additive Model with automatic interaction detection. Despite its slightly longer training time, EBM provides accuracy comparable to blackbox models while remaining entirely interpretable. Its efficiency at prediction time makes it practical for real-time applications in various domains like healthcare, finance, and marketing, enhancing trust in AI systems and helping decision-making processes.

8. Contrastive Explanation Method (CEM)

The Contrastive Explanation Method (CEM) is a useful technique in explainable AI, providing local black box explanations for classification models. By identifying Pertinent Positives (PP) and Pertinent Negatives (PN), CEM helps understand which features contribute to a classification and which should be absent. Its focus on individual instances makes it valuable for understanding specific predictions, especially in decision-making scenarios. Although CEM is limited to local applications, its practical insights find wide use across industries, aiding in understanding model behavior and identifying biases. Additionally, combining CEM with other techniques like Accumulated Local Effects or Partial Dependence Plots enhances interpretability in AI applications.

9. Morris Sensitivity Analysis

Morris Sensitivity Analysis assesses how individual input variables affect model outcomes, helping identify significant inputs for further analysis. It’s efficient but may miss complex relationships in the model. Still, its quick identification of influential variables is valuable in fields like healthcare and finance where resource allocation matters. While it provides a global view of input importance, it may overlook local interactions. To avoid this, researchers often combine it with techniques like Partial Dependence Plots or SHAP for a better understanding of model behavior, enhancing its usefulness in AI model improvement.

10. Counterfactual Instances

Counterfactual Instances offer insights into model predictions by showing how changing individual feature values impacts the overall prediction, aiding in understanding the model’s decision-making process. This approach helps users interpret model decisions, especially in scenarios where understanding prediction reasons is crucial. While designed for local use, Counterfactual Instances provide targeted and interpretable explanations, making them useful for understanding model behavior and identifying biases. They find applications across domains, assisting users in informed decision-making and building trust in AI systems. Moreover, they can be combined with techniques like Partial Dependence Plots or Accumulated Local Effects for a more comprehensive model understanding, improving interpretability in AI applications.

11. Integrated Gradients

Integrated Gradients provides a detailed approach to understanding model predictions by assigning importance values to each input feature. It does this by analyzing the gradients of the model output in relation to the input. This method helps identify the significance of individual features, allowing users to detect data biases and improve model performance. While primarily used for specific instances, Integrated Gradients have broad applications across various industries, aiding decision-making processes. Its interpretability contributes to building trust and confidence in AI systems which is important for informed decision-making.

12. Global Interpretation via Recursive Partitioning (GIRP)

Global Interpretation via Recursive Partitioning (GIRP) is a technique in explainable AI that provides a comprehensive overview of machine learning models using a compact binary tree structure. By analyzing input variables, GIRP identifies important decision points and insights into predictions on a global scale. It helps stakeholders understand patterns and relationships within the data, aiding decision-making and model improvement efforts. While GIRP focuses on global analysis, its simplicity and clarity make it valuable for data scientists and researchers across industries, assisting in optimizing model performance and promoting transparent AI systems.

13. Anchors

Anchors provide clear and precise rules to understand complex model behavior, offering specific conditions for predictions with high confidence. Their simplicity makes them valuable for decision-making, allowing users to verify model decisions effectively. However, Anchors only explain individual predictions and don’t offer insights into overall model behavior. Despite this, they’re useful across industries like healthcare and finance, helping stakeholders make informed decisions. Anchors can be combined with other techniques like Partial Dependence Plots or Accumulated Local Effects for a broader understanding of AI models, enhancing transparency and decision-making in various applications.

14. Protodash

Protodash provides a unique way to interpret machine learning models by identifying influential “prototypes,” which are subsets of data that heavily influence predictive accuracy. These prototypes serve as crucial points driving model predictions, revealing essential factors shaping decision-making processes. By pinpointing these influential data subsets, Protodash offers insights into model behavior, aiding in understanding predictions’ underlying drivers. Its localized approach focuses on specific instances, enabling users to comprehend individual prediction factors and enhance decision-making processes. Though primarily applied locally, Protodash insights extend globally, offering broader implications for understanding overarching model behavior and trends. With applications across various industries like healthcare, finance, and cybersecurity, Protodash assists stakeholders in informed decision-making, fostering trust and confidence in AI systems for widespread adoption.

15. Scalable Bayesian Rule Lists

Scalable Bayesian Rule Lists offer a straightforward method for interpreting models by organizing decision rules in a logical sequence like decision trees. This approach helps stakeholders understand the factors influencing model predictions, promoting trust in AI systems. They provide both global and local interpretability, revealing overarching patterns and specific instance insights useful across industries. Additionally, their scalability makes them efficient for handling large datasets and complex models, enhancing performance and reducing biases in practical applications.

16. Tree Surrogates

Tree Surrogates offers a clear and easy-to-understand method for grasping how complex black-box models make decisions. These surrogate models, depicted as policy trees, help users comprehend both overall trends and specific factors influencing individual predictions. This dual capability aids decision-making across industries like healthcare and finance, as users gain insights into model behavior and factors driving predictions. The simplicity of Tree Surrogates makes them accessible to diverse users, facilitating model optimization and bias reduction in practical applications.

Conclusion

Explainable AI ensures transparency and trustworthiness in AI decision-making. By offering clear explanations for AI outputs, XAI enhances user comprehension and fosters confidence in AI systems. As XAI techniques continue to evolve and the demand for transparency increases, the future of AI depends on its ability to provide understandable and accountable decision-making processes. As AI continues to shape our world, the significance of Explainable AI cannot be overstated in promoting ethical, transparent, and responsible AI implementation. With XAI at the forefront, we can navigate the complexities of AI with clarity and integrity.