ExpProof : Operationalizing Explanations for Confidential Models with ZKPs

In principle, explanations are intended as a way to increase trust in machine learning models and are often obligated by regulations. However, many circumstances where these are demanded are adversarial in nature, meaning the involved parties have misaligned interests and are incentivized to manipulate explanations for their purpose. As a result, explainability methods fail to be operational in such settings despite the demand. In this paper, we take a step towards operationalizing explanations in adversarial scenarios with Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), a cryptographic primitive. Specifically we explore ZKP-amenable versions of the popular explainability algorithm LIME and evaluate their performance on Neural Networks and Random Forests. Our code is publicly available at : \url{https://github.com/emlaufer/ExpProof}.

ExpProof – Building Trust in AI Explanations while keeping Model ConfidentialIn many real-world scenarios—such as loan applications or hiring decisions—organizations use machine learning (ML) models to make predictions. Regulations such as GDPR's Right to Explanation mandate that people affected by these decisions get an explanation for the ML decisions. However, this scenario involves misaligned incentives , in the sense that model developers are incentivized to give incontestable explanations rather than reveal the true workings of its model. Additionally, if the model is confidential and the explanation generation is opaque, how can we be sure the explanation is correct?Our research introduces ExpProof, a system that lets organizations prove that their explanations are accurate—without revealing the model weights. We use a cryptographic technique called Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), which allows someone to prove they correctly computed a value without revealing its private information.We adapted a popular explanation method called LIME to work with ZKPs, ensuring that explanations are verifiable. We tested ExpProof on neural networks and decision trees, and found that it can generate proofs in under two minutes, with verification taking just fractions of a second.ExpProof helps build trust in AI systems by ensuring that explanations are truthful while keeping the model confidential—an important step toward more transparent and accountable machine learning.