Sequential Causal Discovery with Noisy Language Model Priors

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Verma, Prakhar, Arbour, David, Choudhary, Sunav, Chopra, Harshita, Solin, Arno, Sinha, Atanu R.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Verma, Prakhar
Arbour, David
Choudhary, Sunav
Chopra, Harshita
Solin, Arno
Sinha, Atanu R.
author_facet Verma, Prakhar
Arbour, David
Choudhary, Sunav
Chopra, Harshita
Solin, Arno
Sinha, Atanu R.
contents Causal discovery from observational data typically assumes access to complete data and availability of perfect domain experts. In practice, data often arrive in batches, are subject to sampling bias, and expert knowledge is scarce. Language Models (LMs) offer a surrogate for expert knowledge but suffer from hallucinations, inconsistencies, and bias. We present a hybrid framework that bridges these gaps by adaptively integrating sequential batch data with LM-derived noisy, expert knowledge while accounting for both data-induced and LM-induced biases. We propose a representation shift from Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to Partial Ancestral Graph (PAG), that accommodates ambiguities within a coherent framework, allowing grounding the global LM knowledge in local observational data. To guide LM interactions, we use a sequential optimization scheme that adaptively queries the most informative edges. Across varied datasets and LMs, we outperform prior work in structural accuracy and extend to parameter estimation, showing robustness to LM noise.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_16234
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sequential Causal Discovery with Noisy Language Model Priors
Verma, Prakhar
Arbour, David
Choudhary, Sunav
Chopra, Harshita
Solin, Arno
Sinha, Atanu R.
Machine Learning
Causal discovery from observational data typically assumes access to complete data and availability of perfect domain experts. In practice, data often arrive in batches, are subject to sampling bias, and expert knowledge is scarce. Language Models (LMs) offer a surrogate for expert knowledge but suffer from hallucinations, inconsistencies, and bias. We present a hybrid framework that bridges these gaps by adaptively integrating sequential batch data with LM-derived noisy, expert knowledge while accounting for both data-induced and LM-induced biases. We propose a representation shift from Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to Partial Ancestral Graph (PAG), that accommodates ambiguities within a coherent framework, allowing grounding the global LM knowledge in local observational data. To guide LM interactions, we use a sequential optimization scheme that adaptively queries the most informative edges. Across varied datasets and LMs, we outperform prior work in structural accuracy and extend to parameter estimation, showing robustness to LM noise.
title Sequential Causal Discovery with Noisy Language Model Priors
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16234