TimberTrek: Exploring and Curating Sparse Decision Trees with Interactive Visualization

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Zijie J. Wang, Chudi Zhong, Rui Xin, Takuya Takagi, Zhi Chen, Duen Horng Chau, Cynthia Rudin, Margo Seltzer

 View presentation:2022-10-19T21:12:00ZGMT-0600Change your timezone on the schedule page
2022-10-19T21:12:00Z

Exemplar figure, described by caption below — Given thousands of equally accurate machine learning (ML) models, how can users choose among them? A recent ML technique enables domain experts and data scientists to generate a complete Rashomon set for sparse decision trees—a huge set of almost-optimal interpretable ML models. To help ML practitioners identify models with desirable properties from this Rashomon set, we develop TimberTrek, the first interactive visualization system that summarizes thousands of sparse decision trees at scale. Two usage scenarios highlight how TimberTrek can empower users to easily explore, com- pare, and curate models that align with their domain knowledge and values. Our open-source tool runs directly in users’ computational notebooks and web browsers, lowering the barrier to creating more responsible ML models. TimberTrek is available at the following public demo link: https://poloclub.github.io/timbertrek.

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The live footage of the talk, including the Q&A, can be viewed on the session page, Visual Analytics, Decision Support, and Machine Learning.

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Keywords

Machine Learning, Interpretability, Rashomon Set, Decision Trees

Abstract

Given thousands of equally accurate machine learning (ML) models, how can users choose among them? A recent ML technique enables domain experts and data scientists to generate a complete Rashomon set for sparse decision trees—a huge set of almost-optimal interpretable ML models. To help ML practitioners identify models with desirable properties from this Rashomon set, we develop TimberTrek, the first interactive visualization system that summarizes thousands of sparse decision trees at scale. Two usage scenarios highlight how TimberTrek can empower users to easily explore, compare, and curate models that align with their domain knowledge and values. Our open-source tool runs directly in users' computational notebooks and web browsers, lowering the barrier to creating more responsible ML models. TimberTrek is available at the following public demo link: https://poloclub.github.io/timbertrek.