Diverse Explanations From Data-Driven and Domain-Driven Perspectives in the Physical Sciences

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Li, Sichao, Wang, Xin, Barnard, Amanda
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Li, Sichao
Wang, Xin
Barnard, Amanda
author_facet Li, Sichao
Wang, Xin
Barnard, Amanda
contents Machine learning methods have been remarkably successful in material science, providing novel scientific insights, guiding future laboratory experiments, and accelerating materials discovery. Despite the promising performance of these models, understanding the decisions they make is also essential to ensure the scientific value of their outcomes. However, there is a recent and ongoing debate about the diversity of explanations, which potentially leads to scientific inconsistency. This Perspective explores the sources and implications of these diverse explanations in ML applications for physical sciences. Through three case studies in materials science and molecular property prediction, we examine how different models, explanation methods, levels of feature attribution, and stakeholder needs can result in varying interpretations of ML outputs. Our analysis underscores the importance of considering multiple perspectives when interpreting ML models in scientific contexts and highlights the critical need for scientists to maintain control over the interpretation process, balancing data-driven insights with domain expertise to meet specific scientific needs. By fostering a comprehensive understanding of these inconsistencies, we aim to contribute to the responsible integration of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) into physical sciences and improve the trustworthiness of ML applications in scientific discovery.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_00347
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Diverse Explanations From Data-Driven and Domain-Driven Perspectives in the Physical Sciences
Li, Sichao
Wang, Xin
Barnard, Amanda
Machine Learning
Machine learning methods have been remarkably successful in material science, providing novel scientific insights, guiding future laboratory experiments, and accelerating materials discovery. Despite the promising performance of these models, understanding the decisions they make is also essential to ensure the scientific value of their outcomes. However, there is a recent and ongoing debate about the diversity of explanations, which potentially leads to scientific inconsistency. This Perspective explores the sources and implications of these diverse explanations in ML applications for physical sciences. Through three case studies in materials science and molecular property prediction, we examine how different models, explanation methods, levels of feature attribution, and stakeholder needs can result in varying interpretations of ML outputs. Our analysis underscores the importance of considering multiple perspectives when interpreting ML models in scientific contexts and highlights the critical need for scientists to maintain control over the interpretation process, balancing data-driven insights with domain expertise to meet specific scientific needs. By fostering a comprehensive understanding of these inconsistencies, we aim to contribute to the responsible integration of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) into physical sciences and improve the trustworthiness of ML applications in scientific discovery.
title Diverse Explanations From Data-Driven and Domain-Driven Perspectives in the Physical Sciences
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.00347