NLS: an accurate and yet easy-to-interpret regression method

TL;DR

NLS is a neural network-based regression method that balances high predictive accuracy with interpretability by enforcing a local linear structure, eliminating the need for separate explanation tools.

Contribution

The paper introduces NLS, a neural local smoother that provides accurate predictions while being inherently interpretable without additional explanation methods.

Findings

NLS achieves predictive accuracy comparable to state-of-the-art models.

NLS offers easy interpretability due to its local linear structure.

NLS reduces the computational complexity of explanation compared to model-agnostic methods.

Abstract

An important feature of successful supervised machine learning applications is to be able to explain the predictions given by the regression or classification model being used. However, most state-of-the-art models that have good predictive power lead to predictions that are hard to interpret. Thus, several model-agnostic interpreters have been developed recently as a way of explaining black-box classifiers. In practice, using these methods is a slow process because a novel fitting is required for each new testing instance, and several non-trivial choices must be made. We develop NLS (neural local smoother), a method that is complex enough to give good predictions, and yet gives solutions that are easy to be interpreted without the need of using a separate interpreter. The key idea is to use a neural network that imposes a local linear shape to the output layer. We show that NLS leads to predictive power that is comparable to state-of-the-art machine learning models, and yet is easier to interpret.