Research Papers

Deploying AI systems in public institutions can have far-reaching consequences for many people, making it a matter of public interest. Providing opportunities for stakeholders to come together, understand these systems, and debate their merits and harms is thus essential. Explainable AI often focuses on individuals, but deliberation benefits from group settings, which are underexplored. To address this gap, we present findings from an interview study with 8 focus groups and 12 individuals. Our findings provide insight into how explanations support AI novices in deliberating alone and in groups. Participants used modular explanations with four information categories to solve tasks and decide about an AI system's deployment. We found that the explanations supported groups in creating shared understanding and in finding arguments for and against the system's deployment. In comparison, individual participants engaged with explanations in more depth and performed better in the study tasks, but missed an exchange with others. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions on how explanations should be designed to work in group settings and describe their potential use in real-world contexts. With this, our contributions inform XAI research that aims to enable AI novices to understand and deliberate AI systems in the public sector.

Collaborative decision-making with artificial intelligence (AI) agents presents opportunities and challenges. While human-AI performance often surpasses that of individuals, the impact of such technology on human behavior remains insufficiently understood, primarily when AI agents can provide justifiable explanations for their suggestions. This study compares the effects of classic vs. partner-aware explanations on human behavior and performance during a learning-by-doing task. Three participant groups were involved: one interacting with a computer, another with a humanoid robot, and a third one without assistance. Results indicated that partner-aware explanations influenced participants differently based on the type of artificial agents involved. With the computer, participants enhanced their task completion times. At the same time, those interacting with the humanoid robot were more inclined to follow its suggestions, although they did not reduce their timing. Interestingly, participants autonomously performing the learning-by-doing task demonstrated superior knowledge acquisition than those assisted by explainable AI (XAI). These findings raise profound questions and have significant implications for automated tutoring and human-AI collaboration.

Despite recent research advancements in adversarial attack methods, current approaches against XAI monitors are still discoverable and slower. In this paper, we present an adaptive framework for attention mask generation to enable stealthy, explainable and efficient PGD image classification adversarial attack under XAI monitors. Specifically, we utilize mutation XAI mixture and multitask self-supervised X-UNet for attention mask generation to guide PGD attack. Experiments on MNIST (MLP), CIFAR-10 (AlexNet) have shown that our system can outperform benchmark PGD, Sparsefool and SOTA SINIFGSM in balancing among stealth, efficiency and explainability which is crucial for effectively fooling SOTA defense protected classifiers.

Most methods in explainable AI (XAI) focus on providing reasons for the prediction of a given set of features. However, we solve an inverse explanation problem, i.e., given the deviation of a label, find the reasons of this deviation. We use a Bayesian framework to recover the ``true'' features, conditioned on the observed label value. We efficiently explain the deviation of a label value from the mode, by identifying and ranking the influential features using the ``distances'' in the ANOVA functional decomposition. We show that the new method is more human-intuitive and robust than methods based on mean values, e.g., SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP values). The extra costs of solving a Bayesian inverse problem are dimension-independent.

Do graph neural network states contain graph properties?

Tom Pelletreau-Duris, Ruud van Bakel, Michael Cochez

Deep neural networks (DNNs) achieve state-of-the-art performance on many tasks, but this often requires increasingly larger model sizes, which in turn leads to more complex internal representations. Explainability techniques (XAI) have made remarkable progress in the interpretability of ML models. However, the non-euclidean nature of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) makes it difficult to reuse already existing XAI methods. While other works have focused on instance-based explanation methods for GNNs, very few have investigated model-based methods and, to our knowledge, none have tried to probe the embedding of the GNNs for structural graph properties. In this paper we present a model agnostic explainability pipeline for Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) employing diagnostic classifiers. We propose to consider graph-theoretic properties as the features of choice for studying the emergence of representations in GNNs. This pipeline aims to probe and interpret the learned representations in GNNs across various architectures and datasets, refining our understanding and trust in these models.

Accurate prediction of Global Warming Potential (GWP) is essential for assessing the environmental impact of chemical processes and materials. Traditional GWP prediction models rely predominantly on molecular structure, overlooking critical process-related information. In this study, we present an integrative GWP prediction model that combines molecular descriptors (MACCS keys and Mordred descriptors) with process information (process title, description, and location) to improve predictive accuracy and interpretability. Using a deep neural network (DNN) model, we achieved an R-squared of 86% on test data with Mordred descriptors, process location, and description information, representing a 25% improvement over the previous benchmark of 61%; XAI analysis further highlighted the significant role of process title embeddings in enhancing model predictions. To enhance interpretability, we employed a Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN) to derive a symbolic formula for GWP prediction, capturing key molecular and process features and providing a transparent, interpretable alternative to black-box models, enabling users to gain insights into the molecular and process factors influencing GWP. Error analysis showed that the model performs reliably in densely populated data ranges, with increased uncertainty for higher GWP values. This analysis allows users to manage prediction uncertainty effectively, supporting data-driven decision-making in chemical and process design. Our results suggest that integrating both molecular and process-level information in GWP prediction models yields substantial gains in accuracy and interpretability, offering a valuable tool for sustainability assessments. Future work may extend this approach to additional environmental impact categories and refine the model to further enhance its predictive reliability.

Clinical diagnosis of breast malignancy (BM) is a challenging problem in the recent era. In particular, Deep learning (DL) models have continued to offer important solutions for early BM diagnosis but their performance experiences overfitting due to the limited volume of breast ultrasound (BUS) image data. Further, large BUS datasets are difficult to manage due to privacy and legal concerns. Hence, image augmentation is a necessary and challenging step to improve the performance of the DL models. However, the current DL-based augmentation models are inadequate and operate as a black box resulting lack of information and justifications about their suitability and efficacy. Additionally, pre and post-augmentation need high-performance computational resources and time to produce the augmented image and evaluate the model performance. Thus, this study aims to develop a novel efficient augmentation approach for BUS images with advanced neural style transfer (NST) and Explainable AI (XAI) harnessing GPU-based parallel infrastructure. We scale and distribute the training of the augmentation model across 8 GPUs using the Horovod framework on a DGX cluster, achieving a 5.09 speedup while maintaining the model's accuracy. The proposed model is evaluated on 800 (348 benign and 452 malignant) BUS images and its performance is analyzed with other progressive techniques, using different quantitative analyses. The result indicates that the proposed approach can successfully augment the BUS images with 92.47% accuracy.

Current trends in Machine Learning prefer explainability even when it comes at the cost of performance. Therefore, explainable AI methods are particularly important in the field of Fraud Detection. This work investigates the applicability of Differentiable Inductive Logic Programming (DILP) as an explainable AI approach to Fraud Detection. Although the scalability of DILP is a well-known issue, we show that with some data curation such as cleaning and adjusting the tabular and numerical data to the expected format of background facts statements, it becomes much more applicable. While in processing it does not provide any significant advantage on rather more traditional methods such as Decision Trees, or more recent ones like Deep Symbolic Classification, it still gives comparable results. We showcase its limitations and points to improve, as well as potential use cases where it can be much more useful compared to traditional methods, such as recursive rule learning.

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods in text summarization are essential for understanding the model behavior and fostering trust in model-generated summaries. Despite the effectiveness of XAI methods, recent studies have highlighted a key challenge in this area known as the "disagreement problem". This problem occurs when different XAI methods yield conflicting explanations for the same model outcome. Such discrepancies raise concerns about the consistency of explanations and reduce confidence in model interpretations, which is crucial for secure and accountable AI applications. This work is among the first to empirically investigate the disagreement problem in text summarization, demonstrating that such discrepancies are widespread in state-of-the-art summarization models. To address this gap, we propose Regional Explainable AI (RXAI) a novel segmentation-based approach, where each article is divided into smaller, coherent segments using sentence transformers and clustering. We use XAI methods on text segments to create localized explanations that help reduce disagreement between different XAI methods, thereby enhancing the trustworthiness of AI-generated summaries. Our results illustrate that the localized explanations are more consistent than full-text explanations. The proposed approach is validated using two benchmark summarization datasets, Extreme summarization (Xsum) and CNN/Daily Mail, indicating a substantial decrease in disagreement. Additionally, the interactive JavaScript visualization tool is developed to facilitate easy, color-coded exploration of attribution scores at the sentence level, enhancing user comprehension of model explanations.

This manuscript proposes a novel methodology for developing an interpretable prediction model for irregular Electrocardiogram (ECG) classification, using features extracted by a 1-D Deconvolutional Neural Network (1-D DNN). Given the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease, there is a growing demand for models that provide transparent and clinically relevant predictions, which are essential for advancing the development of automated diagnostic tools. The features extracted by the 1-D DNN are included in a simple Logistic Regression (LR) model to predict abnormal ECG patterns. Our analysis demonstrates that the features are consistent with clinical knowledge and provide an interpretable and reliable classification of conditions such as Atrial Fibrillation (AF), Myocardial Infarction (MI), and Sinus Bradycardia Rhythm (SBR). Moreover, our findings show that the simple LR model has similar predictive accuracy to more complex models, such as a 1-D Convolutional Neural Network (1-D CNN), providing a concrete example of how to efficiently integrate Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methodologies with traditional regression models.

Accurately estimating the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of a battery is essential for determining its lifespan and recharge requirements. In this work, we develop machine learning-based models to predict and classify battery RUL. We introduce a two-level ensemble learning (TLE) framework and a CNN+MLP hybrid model for RUL prediction, comparing their performance against traditional, deep, and hybrid machine learning models. Our analysis evaluates various models for both prediction and classification while incorporating interpretability through SHAP. The proposed TLE model consistently outperforms baseline models in RMSE, MAE, and R squared error, demonstrating its superior predictive capabilities. Additionally, the XGBoost classifier achieves an impressive 99% classification accuracy, validated through cross-validation techniques. The models effectively predict relay-based charging triggers, enabling automated and energy-efficient charging processes. This automation reduces energy consumption and enhances battery performance by optimizing charging cycles. SHAP interpretability analysis highlights the cycle index and charging parameters as the most critical factors influencing RUL. To improve accessibility, we developed a Tkinter-based GUI that allows users to input new data and predict RUL in real time. This practical solution supports sustainable battery management by enabling data-driven decisions about battery usage and maintenance, contributing to energy-efficient and innovative battery life prediction.

Despite being the most popular privacy-enhancing network, Tor is increasingly adopted by cybercriminals to obfuscate malicious traffic, hindering the identification of malware-related communications between compromised devices and Command and Control (C&C) servers. This malicious traffic can induce congestion and reduce Tor's performance, while encouraging network administrators to block Tor traffic. Recent research, however, demonstrates the potential for accurately classifying captured Tor traffic as malicious or benign. While existing efforts have addressed malware class identification, their performance remains limited, with micro-average precision and recall values around 70%. Accurately classifying specific malware classes is crucial for effective attack prevention and mitigation. Furthermore, understanding the unique patterns and attack vectors employed by different malware classes helps the development of robust and adaptable defence mechanisms. We utilise a multi-label classification technique based on Message-Passing Neural Networks, demonstrating its superiority over previous approaches such as Binary Relevance, Classifier Chains, and Label Powerset, by achieving micro-average precision (MAP) and recall (MAR) exceeding 90%. Compared to previous work, we significantly improve performance by 19.98%, 10.15%, and 59.21% in MAP, MAR, and Hamming Loss, respectively. Next, we employ Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques to interpret the decision-making process within these models. Finally, we assess the robustness of all techniques by crafting adversarial perturbations capable of manipulating classifier predictions and generating false positives and negatives.