Concept Layers: Enhancing Interpretability and Intervenability via LLM Conceptualization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bidusa, Or Raphael, Markovitch, Shaul
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Bidusa, Or Raphael
Markovitch, Shaul
author_facet Bidusa, Or Raphael
Markovitch, Shaul
contents The opaque nature of Large Language Models (LLMs) has led to significant research efforts aimed at enhancing their interpretability, primarily through post-hoc methods. More recent in-hoc approaches, such as Concept Bottleneck Models (CBMs), offer both interpretability and intervenability by incorporating explicit concept representations. However, these methods suffer from key limitations, including reliance on labeled concept datasets and significant architectural modifications that challenges re-integration into existing system pipelines. In this work, we introduce a new methodology for incorporating interpretability and intervenability into an existing model by integrating Concept Layers (CLs) into its architecture. Our approach projects the model's internal vector representations into a conceptual, explainable vector space before reconstructing and feeding them back into the model. Furthermore, we eliminate the need for a human-selected concept set by algorithmically searching an ontology for a set of concepts that can be either task-specific or task-agnostic. We evaluate CLs across multiple tasks, demonstrating that they maintain the original model's performance and agreement while enabling meaningful interventions. Additionally, we present a proof of concept showcasing an intervenability interface, allowing users to adjust model behavior dynamically, such as mitigating biases during inference.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_13632
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Concept Layers: Enhancing Interpretability and Intervenability via LLM Conceptualization
Bidusa, Or Raphael
Markovitch, Shaul
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
The opaque nature of Large Language Models (LLMs) has led to significant research efforts aimed at enhancing their interpretability, primarily through post-hoc methods. More recent in-hoc approaches, such as Concept Bottleneck Models (CBMs), offer both interpretability and intervenability by incorporating explicit concept representations. However, these methods suffer from key limitations, including reliance on labeled concept datasets and significant architectural modifications that challenges re-integration into existing system pipelines. In this work, we introduce a new methodology for incorporating interpretability and intervenability into an existing model by integrating Concept Layers (CLs) into its architecture. Our approach projects the model's internal vector representations into a conceptual, explainable vector space before reconstructing and feeding them back into the model. Furthermore, we eliminate the need for a human-selected concept set by algorithmically searching an ontology for a set of concepts that can be either task-specific or task-agnostic. We evaluate CLs across multiple tasks, demonstrating that they maintain the original model's performance and agreement while enabling meaningful interventions. Additionally, we present a proof of concept showcasing an intervenability interface, allowing users to adjust model behavior dynamically, such as mitigating biases during inference.
title Concept Layers: Enhancing Interpretability and Intervenability via LLM Conceptualization
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13632