explainability
Ability to clarify
Explainability is the quality of being understandable or interpretable, especially applied to artificial intelligence and machine learning systems.
A model with high explainability allows humans to understand how it reached a particular decision: The algorithm's explainability was crucial for regulatory approval.
The term arose as AI systems became more complex and opaque, creating demand for transparency in automated decision-making.
Capacity to be understood
- understandableAble to be grasped
- intelligibleCapable of being understood
- lucidMentally sharp and comprehensible
- coherentLogically connected throughout
accessible · transparent · digestible · comprehensible · decipherable · graspable · plain · unambiguous
Quality of being verifiable
- traceabilityVerifiable origin and path
- transparencyState of being see-through
- justifiabilityState of being warranted
- verifiabilityCapacity for independent confirmation
disclosure · openness · governance · compliance · fairness · oversight · regulation · documentation
Stated basis for action
- logicScience of valid reasoning
- inferenceConclusion reached through reasoning
- deductionConclusion from premises
- causalityCause-effect connection
attribution · counterfactual · approximation · decomposition · linearization · attention · weights
Forming mental or graphical images
- dashboardVehicle control panel
- narrativeAccount of events
- summaryCondensed account of essentials
- annotationAdded explanatory comment
highlighting · heatmap · diagram · report · presentation · documentation · storytelling · illustration
interpretability
Capacity to be understood
- understandableAble to be grasped
- intelligibleCapable of being understood
- lucidMentally sharp and comprehensible
coherent · accessible · transparent · digestible · comprehensible · decipherable · graspable · plain · unambiguous · clear-cut
auditability
Quality of being verifiable
- traceabilityVerifiable origin and path
- transparencyState of being see-through
- justifiabilityState of being warranted
verifiability · disclosure · openness · governance · compliance · fairness · oversight · regulation · documentation · reproducibility
rationale
Stated basis for action
- logicScience of valid reasoning
- inferenceConclusion reached through reasoning
- deductionConclusion from premises
causality · attribution · counterfactual · approximation · decomposition · linearization · attention · weights
visualization
Forming mental or graphical images
annotation · highlighting · heatmap · diagram · report · presentation · documentation · storytelling · illustration · walkthrough
- AI ethicsalgorithmic bias, robot rights, AI rights, moral agency, human oversight
- AI safetymisalignment, existential risk, superintelligence, stop button, power seeking
- algorithmic governancealgorithmic bias, AI ethics
explainabilityopacity
Impermeability to light
inscrutability · incomprehensibility · opaqueness · inexplicability · obscurity
explainabilityunaccountability
Absence of obligation to explain
explain, explains, explained, explaining, explainer, explainers, explainable, unexplainable, inexplicable