English
Related papers

Related papers: Counterfactual Causality from First Principles?

200 papers

Counterfactual reasoning allows us to explore hypothetical scenarios in order to explain the impacts of our decisions. However, addressing such inquires is impossible without establishing the appropriate mathematical framework. In this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-25 Kurt Butler , Marija Iloska , Petar M. Djuric

Causality has the potential to truly transform the way we solve a large number of real-world problems. Yet, so far, its potential largely remains to be unlocked as causality often requires crucial assumptions which cannot be tested in…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-15 Jeroen Berrevoets , Krzysztof Kacprzyk , Zhaozhi Qian , Mihaela van der Schaar

Causal inference in brain networks has traditionally relied on regression-based models such as Granger causality, structural equation modeling, and dynamic causal modeling. While effective for identifying directed associations, these…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2026-04-01 Moo K. Chung , Luigi Maccotta , Aaron Struck

This article discusses how the language of causality can shed new light on the major challenges in machine learning for medical imaging: 1) data scarcity, which is the limited availability of high-quality annotations, and 2) data mismatch,…

Image and Video Processing · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2020-07-23 Daniel C. Castro , Ian Walker , Ben Glocker

Counterfactual (CF) explanations have been employed as one of the modes of explainability in explainable AI-both to increase the transparency of AI systems and to provide recourse. Cognitive science and psychology, however, have pointed out…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2022-12-14 Marko Tesic , Ulrike Hahn

Counterfactual reasoning aims at answering contrary-to-fact questions like ``Would have Alice recovered had she taken aspirin?'' and corresponds to the most fine-grained layer of causation. Critically, while many counterfactual statements…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-09-23 Lucas de Lara

We propose a formal model for counterfactual estimation with unobserved confounding in "data-rich" settings, i.e., where there are a large number of units and a large number of measurements per unit. Our model provides a bridge between the…

Econometrics · Economics 2025-04-03 Alberto Abadie , Anish Agarwal , Devavrat Shah

Counterfactual explanation is one branch of interpretable machine learning that produces a perturbation sample to change the model's original decision. The generated samples can act as a recommendation for end-users to achieve their desired…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-03-28 Tri Dung Duong , Qian Li , Guandong Xu

Statistical science (as opposed to mathematical statistics) involves far more than probability theory, for it requires realistic causal models of data generators - even for purely descriptive goals. Statistical decision theory requires more…

Other Statistics · Statistics 2022-06-02 Sander Greenland

There has been considerable recent interest in explainability in AI, especially with black-box machine learning models. As correctly observed by the planning community, when the application at hand is not a single-shot decision or…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-02-14 Vaishak Belle

Despite the increasing effectiveness of language models, their reasoning capabilities remain underdeveloped. In particular, causal reasoning through counterfactual question answering is lacking. This work aims to bridge this gap. We first…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-03-18 Alihan Hüyük , Xinnuo Xu , Jacqueline Maasch , Aditya V. Nori , Javier González

We introduce an extension of team semantics which provides a framework for the logic of manipulationist theories of causation based on structural equation models, such as Woodward's and Pearl's; our causal teams incorporate (partial or…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2019-01-04 Fausto Barbero , Gabriel Sandu

Counterfactual reasoning has emerged as a crucial technique for generalizing the reasoning capabilities of large language models (LLMs). By generating and analyzing counterfactual scenarios, researchers can assess the adaptability and…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-02-17 Shuai Yang , Qi Yang , Luoxi Tang , Yuqiao Meng , Nancy Guo , Jeremy Blackburn , Zhaohan Xi

We define several canonical problems related to contrastive explanations, each answering a question of the form ''Why P but not Q?''. The problems compute causes for both P and Q, explicitly comparing their differences. We investigate the…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-07-14 Tobias Geibinger , Reijo Jaakkola , Antti Kuusisto , Xinghan Liu , Miikka Vilander

Explaining autonomous and intelligent systems is critical in order to improve trust in their decisions. Counterfactuals have emerged as one of the most compelling forms of explanation. They address ``why not'' questions by revealing how…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-02-05 Leila Amgoud , Martin Cooper

Recommender systems are important and powerful tools for various personalized services. Traditionally, these systems use data mining and machine learning techniques to make recommendations based on correlations found in the data. However,…

Information Retrieval · Computer Science 2023-01-11 Shuyuan Xu , Jianchao Ji , Yunqi Li , Yingqiang Ge , Juntao Tan , Yongfeng Zhang

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in causal reasoning for designing fair decision-making systems due to its compatibility with legal frameworks, interpretability for human stakeholders, and robustness to spurious…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-27 Aida Rahmattalabi , Alice Xiang

Over the past two decades, the rapid surge in data-intensive computational techniques for statistical modeling may have had the effect of diminishing the use of applied mathematics in causal scientific inquiry. In this paper, co-authored by…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2026-05-13 Marzieh Asgari-Targhi , Amene Asgari-Targhi , Mahboubeh Asgari-Targhi , Edward J. , Hall

Explanations play a variety of roles in various recommender systems, from a legally mandated afterthought, through an integral element of user experience, to a key to persuasiveness. A natural and useful form of an explanation is the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-11 Jakub Černý , Jiří Němeček , Ivan Dovica , Jakub Mareček

We introduce an approach to counterfactual inference based on merging information from multiple datasets. We consider a causal reformulation of the statistical marginal problem: given a collection of marginal structural causal models (SCMs)…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2022-07-18 Luigi Gresele , Julius von Kügelgen , Jonas M. Kübler , Elke Kirschbaum , Bernhard Schölkopf , Dominik Janzing