Complex machine learning models, such as deep neural networks, have recently achieved outstanding predictive performance in a wide range of applications, including visual object recognition, speech perception, language modeling, and information retrieval. There has since been an explosion of interest in interpreting the representations learned by these models, with profound implications for research into explainable ML, causality, safe AI, social science, automatic scientific discovery, human computer interaction (HCI), crowdsourcing, machine teaching, and AI ethics. This symposium is designed to broadly engage the machine learning community on these topics -- tying together many threads which are deeply related but often considered in isolation.

For example, we may build a complex model to predict crime activity. But by interpreting the learned structure of the model, we can gain new insights into the processes driving crime events, enabling us to develop more effective public policy. Moreover, if we learn that the model is making good predictions by discovering how the geometry of clusters of crime events affect future activity, we can use this knowledge to design even more successful predictive models. Similarly, if we wish to make AI systems deployed on self-driving cars safe, straightforward black-box models will not suffice, as we need methods of understanding their rare but costly mistakes.

The symposium will feature talks and panel discussions. One of the panels will have a moderated debate format where arguments are presented on each side of key topics chosen prior to the symposium, with the opportunity to follow-up each argument with questions. This format will encourage an interactive, lively, and rigorous discussion, working towards the shared goal of making intellectual progress on foundational questions. During the symposium, we will also feature the launch of a new Explainability in Machine Learning Challenge, involving the creation of new benchmarks for motivating the development of interpretable learning algorithms.