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Main Authors: Atrey, Pranjal, Brundage, Michael P., Wu, Min, Dutta, Sanghamitra
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.07914
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author Atrey, Pranjal
Brundage, Michael P.
Wu, Min
Dutta, Sanghamitra
author_facet Atrey, Pranjal
Brundage, Michael P.
Wu, Min
Dutta, Sanghamitra
contents Interpretable machine learning models offer understandable reasoning behind their decision-making process, though they may not always match the performance of their black-box counterparts. This trade-off between interpretability and model performance has sparked discussions around the deployment of AI, particularly in critical applications where knowing the rationale of decision-making is essential for trust and accountability. In this study, we conduct a comparative analysis of several black-box and interpretable models, focusing on a specific NLP use case that has received limited attention: inferring ratings from reviews. Through this use case, we explore the intricate relationship between the performance and interpretability of different models. We introduce a quantitative score called Composite Interpretability (CI) to help visualize the trade-off between interpretability and performance, particularly in the case of composite models. Our results indicate that, in general, the learning performance improves as interpretability decreases, but this relationship is not strictly monotonic, and there are instances where interpretable models are more advantageous.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_07914
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Demystifying the Accuracy-Interpretability Trade-Off: A Case Study of Inferring Ratings from Reviews
Atrey, Pranjal
Brundage, Michael P.
Wu, Min
Dutta, Sanghamitra
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
Machine Learning
Interpretable machine learning models offer understandable reasoning behind their decision-making process, though they may not always match the performance of their black-box counterparts. This trade-off between interpretability and model performance has sparked discussions around the deployment of AI, particularly in critical applications where knowing the rationale of decision-making is essential for trust and accountability. In this study, we conduct a comparative analysis of several black-box and interpretable models, focusing on a specific NLP use case that has received limited attention: inferring ratings from reviews. Through this use case, we explore the intricate relationship between the performance and interpretability of different models. We introduce a quantitative score called Composite Interpretability (CI) to help visualize the trade-off between interpretability and performance, particularly in the case of composite models. Our results indicate that, in general, the learning performance improves as interpretability decreases, but this relationship is not strictly monotonic, and there are instances where interpretable models are more advantageous.
title Demystifying the Accuracy-Interpretability Trade-Off: A Case Study of Inferring Ratings from Reviews
topic Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.07914