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Counterfactual Explanations via Inverse Constraint Programming

Authors Anton Korikov, J. Christopher Beck

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ACM Subject Classification
  • Computing methodologies → Planning and scheduling
Keywords
  • Explanation
  • Inverse Optimization
  • Scheduling

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Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that automated decision making systems cannot be black boxes: users require insight into the reasons that decisions are made. Explainable AI (XAI) has developed a number of approaches to this challenge, including the framework of counterfactual explanations where an explanation takes the form of the minimal change to the world required for a user’s desired decisions to be made. Building on recent work, we show that for a user query specifying an assignment to a subset of variables, a counterfactual explanation can be found using inverse optimization. Thus, we develop inverse constraint programming (CP): to our knowledge, the first definition and treatment of inverse optimization in constraint programming. We modify a cutting plane algorithm for inverse mixed-integer programming (MIP), resulting in both pure and hybrid inverse CP algorithms. We evaluate the performance of these algorithms in generating counterfactual explanations for two combinatorial optimization problems: the 0-1 knapsack problem and single machine scheduling with release dates. Our numerical experiments show that a MIP-CP hybrid approach extended with a novel early stopping criteria can substantially out-perform a MIP approach particularly when CP is the state of the art for the underlying optimization problem.

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Anton Korikov and J. Christopher Beck. Counterfactual Explanations via Inverse Constraint Programming. In 27th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 210, pp. 35:1-35:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2021.35

Author Details

Anton Korikov
  • Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada
J. Christopher Beck
  • Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

Funding

This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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