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Neural Nets can't explain what they do and this is a problem

Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:43 pm
by althus
I've come across this article at the NYTimes about deep neural networks and the amazing things they do that we just cannot. The problem is that if a human has to make an important decision, like a medical diagnosis, based on an AI recommendation, will he/she do so with no understanding at all of how the AI came up with it, even though it is likely correct?

It reminds me of the way computer chess tends to be baffling to us humans, but is nonetheless "superhuman" at the same time.

Am curious what talkchess thinks of the piece. Sorry if it's been posted before.

Re: Neural Nets can't explain what they do and this is a pro

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:39 am
by jdart
It's a well known issue and also applies to other kinds of complex learned models, including random forests, SVM with non-linear kernels, etc.

--Jon

Re: Neural Nets can't explain what they do and this is a pro

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:45 am
by Michel
I find this even more worrisome...

https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.1897

Re: Neural Nets can't explain what they do and this is a pro

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:55 am
by ZirconiumX
althus wrote:I've come across this article at the NYTimes about deep neural networks and the amazing things they do that we just cannot. The problem is that if a human has to make an important decision, like a medical diagnosis, based on an AI recommendation, will he/she do so with no understanding at all of how the AI came up with it, even though it is likely correct?

It reminds me of the way computer chess tends to be baffling to us humans, but is nonetheless "superhuman" at the same time.

Am curious what talkchess thinks of the piece. Sorry if it's been posted before.
I'd like to point out that also applies to humans. We don't know how the brain works, and possibly won't for a long time.

If the brain was so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't understand it. The same goes for neural nets.

Re: Neural Nets can't explain what they do and this is a pro

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:17 pm
by Henk
Artist can't create good art if he follows rules only.