Systems with Switching Causal Relations: A Meta-Causal Perspective

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Willig, Moritz, Tobiasch, Tim Nelson, Busch, Florian Peter, Seng, Jonas, Dhami, Devendra Singh, Kersting, Kristian
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Willig, Moritz
Tobiasch, Tim Nelson
Busch, Florian Peter
Seng, Jonas
Dhami, Devendra Singh
Kersting, Kristian
author_facet Willig, Moritz
Tobiasch, Tim Nelson
Busch, Florian Peter
Seng, Jonas
Dhami, Devendra Singh
Kersting, Kristian
contents Most work on causality in machine learning assumes that causal relationships are driven by a constant underlying process. However, the flexibility of agents' actions or tipping points in the environmental process can change the qualitative dynamics of the system. As a result, new causal relationships may emerge, while existing ones change or disappear, resulting in an altered causal graph. To analyze these qualitative changes on the causal graph, we propose the concept of meta-causal states, which groups classical causal models into clusters based on equivalent qualitative behavior and consolidates specific mechanism parameterizations. We demonstrate how meta-causal states can be inferred from observed agent behavior, and discuss potential methods for disentangling these states from unlabeled data. Finally, we direct our analysis towards the application of a dynamical system, showing that meta-causal states can also emerge from inherent system dynamics, and thus constitute more than a context-dependent framework in which mechanisms emerge only as a result of external factors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_13054
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Systems with Switching Causal Relations: A Meta-Causal Perspective
Willig, Moritz
Tobiasch, Tim Nelson
Busch, Florian Peter
Seng, Jonas
Dhami, Devendra Singh
Kersting, Kristian
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Most work on causality in machine learning assumes that causal relationships are driven by a constant underlying process. However, the flexibility of agents' actions or tipping points in the environmental process can change the qualitative dynamics of the system. As a result, new causal relationships may emerge, while existing ones change or disappear, resulting in an altered causal graph. To analyze these qualitative changes on the causal graph, we propose the concept of meta-causal states, which groups classical causal models into clusters based on equivalent qualitative behavior and consolidates specific mechanism parameterizations. We demonstrate how meta-causal states can be inferred from observed agent behavior, and discuss potential methods for disentangling these states from unlabeled data. Finally, we direct our analysis towards the application of a dynamical system, showing that meta-causal states can also emerge from inherent system dynamics, and thus constitute more than a context-dependent framework in which mechanisms emerge only as a result of external factors.
title Systems with Switching Causal Relations: A Meta-Causal Perspective
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.13054