arXiv Machine Learning

FADEx: Feature Attribution and Distortion-based Explanation of Dimensionality Reduction

arXiv:2607. 27463v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Dimensionality Reduction (DR) is a fundamental tool for high-dimensional data exploration, reducing the complexity of latent spaces of machine learning models, and assisting in the explanation of complex opaque models.

arXiv AI
Sep 16

A unified framework for global and local interpretability using adaptive derivative-ordered random explanation

The paper introduces Adaptive Derivative-Ordered Random Explanation (ADORE), a unified framework that uses first- and second-order derivatives to capture nonlinear feature interactions and feature-sample dynamics. ADORE combines global feature importance with local sample contributions, quantifying both magnitude and direction of feature impact while identifying critical samples. It achieves computational efficiency via randomized SVD and dynamic sparsity detection, outperforming LIME and SHAP across tabular, text, and image data, and is released as an open-source Python package on GitHub.

By Lemen Chao, Ming Lei, Anran Fanga
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 15

Cluster LOCO: Feature Importance For Interpreting Clusters

arXiv:2606. 14592v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Clustering is widely used for exploratory analysis and scientific discovery, driving insights from market segmentation to biological data analysis, but its outputs can be difficult to interpret, audit, and reproduce as modern datasets become increasingly large and complex.

By Claire M. He, Genevera I. Allen
arXiv Statistics ML
Aug 25

Interpretable AI with Local Distillation

Interpretable AI with Local Distillation proposes a method where a black‑box teacher model guides a regularized linear student model at each query point. The teacher defines locality by upweighting training observations with similar predicted outcomes and anchors the fit with its own prediction at the query point, treated as a pseudo‑observation. By adding Gaussian randomization and refitting, the approach identifies reliable features and stable subgroups, achieving near‑teacher accuracy while producing sparse, locally interpretable linear models.

By Erin Craig, Yiling Huang, Snigdha Panigrahi
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 18

Evaluating Explanation Methods by the Predictors They Induce

The paper proposes a new evaluation test for explanation methods: if an explanation accurately captures how a model uses its features, one should be able to reconstruct the model’s predictions from it. The authors convert explanations into predictors by summing feature effects and assess how well these predictors reproduce the model on unseen data, without any fitting. They apply this test to partial dependence plots, accumulated local effects, SHAP, and LIME across multiple datasets and model families, showing that the best method depends on feature dependence and that some existing quality metrics can favor flawed explanations.

By Jacob Selb{\ae}k, Hugo L. Hammer
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 23

eXplaining to Learn (eX2L): Regularization Using Contrastive Visual Explanation Pairs for Distribution Shifts

The paper introduces eXplaining to Learn (eX2L), an interpretable framework that regularizes a classifier by penalizing similarity between Grad‑CAM maps of the main label classifier and a confounder classifier. This approach decorrelates confounding features from latent representations during training. On the Spawrious Many‑to‑Many Hard Challenge benchmark, eX2L outperforms the current state‑of‑the‑art by 5.49% in average accuracy and 10.90% in worst‑group accuracy, while also demonstrating functional domain invariance through explicit label‑nuisance decoupling.

By Paulo Mario P. Medina, Jose Marie Antonio Mi\~noza, Sebastian C. Iba\~nez
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 10

XtrAIn: Training-Guided Occlusion for Feature Attribution

arXiv:2606. 10877v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Occlusion-based attribution methods provide an intuitive way to estimate feature importance by perturbing input features and measuring the resulting change in model output.

By Thodoris Lymperopoulos, Ioannis Kakogeorgiou, Denia Kanellopoulou