arXiv Machine Learning

Towards Realistic Models of Change: A Causal Perspective on Decision-Making and Dynamical Systems

arXiv AI
Oct 19

What is causal about causal models and representations?

The paper investigates why causal Bayesian networks are labeled as causal, noting that interventions are defined within the model while predictions refer to real-world actions. It introduces a formal framework that separates the causal model from the data-generating process and formalizes how actions map to interventions. The authors prove an impossibility result showing that no non‑circular interpretation can satisfy all desirable properties, and they explore the consequences for falsification, causal discovery, representation learning, and abstraction.

By Frederik Hytting J{\o}rgensen, Luigi Gresele, Sebastian Weichwald
arXiv AI
Sep 4

A Computationally Feasible Framework for Causal Probabilistic Explanation

The paper introduces Probabilistic Causal Impact (PCI), a framework that blends actual causality (AC) with Pearl’s probability of necessity and sufficiency to provide tractable, causally grounded explanations. PCI reframes explainability as an estimation problem on a probabilistic causal model, enabling efficient approximation via Monte Carlo sampling. The authors evaluate PCI on synthetic and real-world data, demonstrating consistency with AC, scalability, and applicability to complex continuous systems and large-scale causal machine learning models.

By Rafal Urbaniak, Sam Witty, Daniel Waxman, Andy Zane, Poorva Garg, Emily Bunnapradist, Sankaran Vaidyanathan, Jack Feser, Drew Lehe, Eli Bingham
arXiv AI
Sep 4

Symmetries and Causality: Causal Effect Identification Beyond IID Data

The paper introduces a formal framework that uses symmetries in data to keep causal mechanisms invariant, providing a simple and general mathematical language for causal reasoning. It outlines how to describe models and queries, and presents strategies for rigorously identifying causal effects from data within this framework. The approach reproduces known results for IID data and extends causal analysis to non‑IID settings, complex queries beyond do‑ or soft‑interventions, and incorporates missing data, transfer, and robustness considerations.

By Martin Rabel, Jakob Runge
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 31

The Role of Causality in Algorithmic Recourse

arXiv:2607. 28497v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Algorithmic recourse aims to provide individuals with actionable changes to improve their predicted outcomes in high-stakes classification settings, such as loan and mortgage applications.

By Srikanth Avasarala, Varun Gupta, Shahin Jabbari, Saber Salehkaleybar, Juba Ziani
arXiv Machine Learning
Oct 22

2-Step Agent: How a Bayesian Decision Maker Learns from AI-Decision Support

The paper introduces the 2-Step Agent framework, a computational model that explains how a Bayesian decision maker updates beliefs and estimates causal effects after receiving a prediction from a machine‑learning model. It provides a tractable solution for the multivariate linear‑Gaussian case, identifies when machine‑learning decision support improves outcomes, and demonstrates that a single misaligned prior can cause the support to worsen decisions even with a well‑specified model.

By Otto Nyberg, Davide Tugnoli, Fausto Carcassi, Giovanni Cin\`a