Counterfactual Explanations Under Model Multiplicity and Their Use in Computational Argumentation

Alfano, Gianvincenzo; Gould, Adam; Leofante, Francesco; Rago, Antonio; Toni, Francesca

doi:10.24963/ijcai.2025/481

Counterfactual Explanations Under Model Multiplicity and Their Use in Computational Argumentation

Gianvincenzo Alfano, Adam Gould, Francesco Leofante, Antonio Rago, Francesca Toni

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Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Main Track. Pages 4321-4329.

https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2025/481

Keywords

Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: KRR: Argumentation
AI Ethics, Trust, Fairness: ETF: Explainability and interpretability

Abstract

Counterfactual explanations (CXs) are widely recognised as an essential technique for providing recourse recommendations for AI models.

However, it is not obvious how to determine CXs in model multiplicity scenarios, where equally performing but different models can be obtained for the same task.

In this paper, we propose novel qualitative and quantitative definitions of CXs based on explicit, nested quantification over (groups) of model decisions.

We also study properties of these notions and identify decision problems of interest therefor.

While our CXs are broadly applicable, in this paper we instantiate them within computational argumentation where model multiplicity naturally emerges, e.g. with incomplete and case-based argumentation frameworks.

We then illustrate the suitability of our CXs for model multiplicity in legal and healthcare contexts, before analysing the complexity of the associated decision problems.

Gianvincenzo Alfano, Adam Gould, Francesco Leofante, Antonio Rago, and Francesca Toni. 2025. Counterfactual Explanations Under Model Multiplicity and Their Use in Computational Argumentation. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-25. IJCAI, 4321–4329. https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2025/481

@inproceedings{ijcai2025p481,
  title     = {Counterfactual Explanations Under Model Multiplicity and Their Use in Computational Argumentation},
  author    = {Alfano, Gianvincenzo and Gould, Adam and Leofante, Francesco and Rago, Antonio and Toni, Francesca},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth International Joint Conference on
               Artificial Intelligence, {IJCAI-25}},
  publisher = {International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence Organization},
  editor    = {James Kwok},
  pages     = {4321--4329},
  year      = {2025},
  month     = {8},
  note      = {Main Track},
  doi       = {10.24963/ijcai.2025/481},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2025/481},
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Counterfactual Explanations Under Model Multiplicity and Their Use in Computational Argumentation
AU  - Alfano, Gianvincenzo
AU  - Gould, Adam
AU  - Leofante, Francesco
AU  - Rago, Antonio
AU  - Toni, Francesca
T2  - Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-25
PB  - International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence Organization
PY  - 2025
SP  - 4321
EP  - 4329
DO  - 10.24963/ijcai.2025/481
UR  - https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2025/481
ER  -