https://github.com/givasile/effector
Effector - a Python package for global and regional effect methods
https://github.com/givasile/effector
explainability iml xai
Last synced: about 17 hours ago
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Effector - a Python package for global and regional effect methods
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/givasile/effector
- Owner: givasile
- License: mit
- Created: 2022-03-31T07:54:32.000Z (over 3 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-07-21T17:06:25.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-10-13T00:56:30.916Z (about 1 month ago)
- Topics: explainability, iml, xai
- Language: Jupyter Notebook
- Homepage: https://xai-effector.github.io/
- Size: 148 MB
- Stars: 117
- Watchers: 3
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
- AwesomeResponsibleAI - effector
- awesome-machine-learning-interpretability - effector -  | "eXplainable AI for Tabular Data" | (Technical Resources / Open Source/Access Responsible AI Software Packages)
- Awesome-explainable-AI - https://github.com/givasile/effector - learn, Keras, Pytorch, xgboost, etc.  (Python Libraries(sort in alphabeta order) / Evaluation methods)
README
# Effector
[](https://badge.fury.io/py/effector)
[](https://codecov.io/gh/givasile/effector)
[](https://pepy.tech/projects/effector)
[](https://github.com/ambv/black)
---
`effector` an eXplainable AI package for **tabular data**. It:
- creates [global and regional](https://xai-effector.github.io/quickstart/global_and_regional_effects/) effect plots
- has a [simple API](https://xai-effector.github.io/quickstart/simple_api/) with smart defaults, but can become [flexible](https://xai-effector.github.io/quickstart/flexible_api/) if needed
- is model agnostic; can explain [any underlying ML model](https://xai-effector.github.io/)
- integrates easily with popular ML libraries, like [Scikit-Learn, Tensorflow and Pytorch](https://xai-effector.github.io/quickstart/simple_api/#__tabbed_2_2)
- is fast, for both [global](https://xai-effector.github.io/notebooks/guides/efficiency_global/) and [regional](https://xai-effector.github.io/notebooks/guides/efficiency_global/) methods
- provides a large collection of [global and regional effects methods](https://xai-effector.github.io/#supported-methods)
---
📖 [Documentation](https://xai-effector.github.io/) | 🔍 [Intro to global and regional effects](https://xai-effector.github.io/quickstart/global_and_regional_effects/) | 🔧 [API](https://xai-effector.github.io/api/) | 🏗 [Examples](https://xai-effector.github.io/examples)
---
## Installation
Effector requires Python 3.10+:
```bash
pip install effector
```
Dependencies: `numpy`, `scipy`, `matplotlib`, `tqdm`, `shap`.
---
## Quickstart
### Train an ML model
```python
import effector
import keras
import numpy as np
import tensorflow as tf
np.random.seed(42)
tf.random.set_seed(42)
# Load dataset
bike_sharing = effector.datasets.BikeSharing(pcg_train=0.8)
X_train, Y_train = bike_sharing.x_train, bike_sharing.y_train
X_test, Y_test = bike_sharing.x_test, bike_sharing.y_test
# Define and train a neural network
model = keras.Sequential([
keras.layers.Dense(1024, activation="relu"),
keras.layers.Dense(512, activation="relu"),
keras.layers.Dense(256, activation="relu"),
keras.layers.Dense(1)
])
model.compile(optimizer="adam", loss="mse", metrics=["mae", keras.metrics.RootMeanSquaredError()])
model.fit(X_train, Y_train, batch_size=512, epochs=20, verbose=1)
model.evaluate(X_test, Y_test, verbose=1)
```
### Wrap it in a callable
```python
def predict(x):
return model(x).numpy().squeeze()
```
### Explain it with global effect plots
```python
# Initialize the Partial Dependence Plot (PDP) object
pdp = effector.PDP(
X_test, # Use the test set as background data
predict, # Prediction function
feature_names=bike_sharing.feature_names, # (optional) Feature names
target_name=bike_sharing.target_name # (optional) Target variable name
)
# Plot the effect of a feature
pdp.plot(
feature=3, # Select the 3rd feature (feature: hour)
nof_ice=200, # (optional) Number of Individual Conditional Expectation (ICE) curves to plot
scale_x={"mean": bike_sharing.x_test_mu[3], "std": bike_sharing.x_test_std[3]}, # (optional) Scale x-axis
scale_y={"mean": bike_sharing.y_test_mu, "std": bike_sharing.y_test_std}, # (optional) Scale y-axis
centering=True, # (optional) Center PDP and ICE curves
show_avg_output=True, # (optional) Display the average prediction
y_limits=[-200, 1000] # (optional) Set y-axis limits
)
```
### Explain it with regional effect plots
```python
# Initialize the Regional Partial Dependence Plot (RegionalPDP)
r_pdp = effector.RegionalPDP(
X_test, # Test set data
predict, # Prediction function
feature_names=bike_sharing.feature_names, # Feature names
target_name=bike_sharing.target_name # Target variable name
)
# Summarize the subregions of the 3rd feature (temperature)
r_pdp.summary(
features=3, # Select the 3rd feature for the summary
scale_x_list=[ # scale each feature with mean and std
{"mean": bike_sharing.x_test_mu[i], "std": bike_sharing.x_test_std[i]}
for i in range(X_test.shape[1])
]
)
```
```
Feature 3 - Full partition tree:
🌳 Full Tree Structure:
───────────────────────
hr 🔹 [id: 0 | heter: 0.43 | inst: 3476 | w: 1.00]
workingday = 0.00 🔹 [id: 1 | heter: 0.36 | inst: 1129 | w: 0.32]
temp ≤ 6.50 🔹 [id: 3 | heter: 0.17 | inst: 568 | w: 0.16]
temp > 6.50 🔹 [id: 4 | heter: 0.21 | inst: 561 | w: 0.16]
workingday ≠ 0.00 🔹 [id: 2 | heter: 0.28 | inst: 2347 | w: 0.68]
temp ≤ 6.50 🔹 [id: 5 | heter: 0.19 | inst: 953 | w: 0.27]
temp > 6.50 🔹 [id: 6 | heter: 0.20 | inst: 1394 | w: 0.40]
--------------------------------------------------
Feature 3 - Statistics per tree level:
🌳 Tree Summary:
─────────────────
Level 0🔹heter: 0.43
Level 1🔹heter: 0.31 | 🔻0.12 (28.15%)
Level 2🔹heter: 0.19 | 🔻0.11 (37.10%)
```
The summary of feature `hr` (hour) says that its effect on the output is highly dependent on the value of features:
- `workingday`, wheteher it is a workingday or not
- `temp`, what is the temperature the specific hour
Let's see how the effect changes on these subregions!
---
#### Is it workingday or not?
```python
# Plot regional effects after the first-level split (workingday vs non-workingday)
for node_idx in [1, 2]: # Iterate over the nodes of the first-level split
r_pdp.plot(
feature=3, # Feature 3 (temperature)
node_idx=node_idx, # Node index (1: workingday, 2: non-workingday)
nof_ice=200, # Number of ICE curves
scale_x_list=[ # Scale features by mean and std
{"mean": bike_sharing.x_test_mu[i], "std": bike_sharing.x_test_std[i]}
for i in range(X_test.shape[1])
],
scale_y={"mean": bike_sharing.y_test_mu, "std": bike_sharing.y_test_std}, # Scale the target
y_limits=[-200, 1000] # Set y-axis limits
)
```
#### Is it hot or cold?
```python
# Plot regional effects after second-level splits (workingday vs non-workingday and hot vs cold temperature)
for node_idx in [3, 4, 5, 6]: # Iterate over the nodes of the second-level splits
r_pdp.plot(
feature=3, # Feature 3 (temperature)
node_idx=node_idx, # Node index (hot/cold temperature and workingday/non-workingday)
nof_ice=200, # Number of ICE curves
scale_x_list=[ # Scale features by mean and std
{"mean": bike_sharing.x_test_mu[i], "std": bike_sharing.x_test_std[i]}
for i in range(X_test.shape[1])
],
scale_y={"mean": bike_sharing.y_test_mu, "std": bike_sharing.y_test_std}, # Scale target
y_limits=[-200, 1000] # Set y-axis limits
)
```
---
## Supported Methods
`effector` implements global and regional effect methods:
| Method | Global Effect | Regional Effect | Reference | ML model | Speed |
|---------|----------------|-----------------|-----------|-------------------|----------------------------------------------|
| PDP | `PDP` | `RegionalPDP` | [PDP](https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1013203451) | any | Fast for a small dataset |
| d-PDP | `DerPDP` | `RegionalDerPDP`| [d-PDP](https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.6392) | differentiable | Fast for a small dataset |
| ALE | `ALE` | `RegionalALE` | [ALE](https://academic.oup.com/jrsssb/article/82/4/1059/7056085) | any | Fast |
| RHALE | `RHALE` | `RegionalRHALE` | [RHALE](https://ebooks.iospress.nl/doi/10.3233/FAIA230354) | differentiable | Very fast |
| SHAP-DP | `ShapDP` | `RegionalShapDP`| [SHAP](https://papers.nips.cc/paper/7062-a-unified-approach-to-interpreting-model-predictions) | any | Fast for a small dataset and a light ML model |
---
## Method Selection Guide
From the runtime persepective there are three criterias:
- is the dataset `small` (N<10K) or `large` (N>10K instances) ?
- is the ML model `light` (runtime < 0.1s) or `heavy` (runtime > 0.1s) ?
- is the ML model `differentiable` or `non-differentiable` ?
Trust us and follow this guide:
- `light` + `small` + `differentiable` = `any([PDP, RHALE, ShapDP, ALE, DerPDP])`
- `light` + `small` + `non-differentiable`: `[PDP, ALE, ShapDP]`
- `heavy` + `small` + `differentiable` = `any([PDP, RHALE, ALE, DerPDP])`
- `heavy` + `small` + `non differentiable` = `any([PDP, ALE])`
- `big` + `not differentiable` = `ALE`
- `big` + `differentiable` = `RHALE`
---
## Citation
If you use `effector`, please cite it:
```bibtex
@misc{gkolemis2024effector,
title={effector: A Python package for regional explanations},
author={Vasilis Gkolemis et al.},
year={2024},
eprint={2404.02629},
archivePrefix={arXiv},
primaryClass={cs.LG}
}
```
---
## Spotlight on `effector`
### 📚 Featured Publications
- **Gkolemis, Vasilis, et al.**
*"Fast and Accurate Regional Effect Plots for Automated Tabular Data Analysis."*
[Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment](https://vldb.org/workshops/2024/proceedings/TaDA/TaDA.5.pdf) | ISSN 2150-8097
### 🎤 Talks & Presentations
- **LMU-IML Group Talk**
[Slides & Materials](https://github.com/givasile/effector-paper/tree/main/presentation-general) | [LMU-IML Research](https://www.slds.stat.uni-muenchen.de/research/explainable-ai.html)
- **AIDAPT Plenary Meeting**
[Deep dive into effector](https://github.com/givasile/presentation-aidapt-xai-effector/tree/main)
- **XAI World Conference 2024**
[Poster](https://github.com/givasile/effector-paper/blob/main/poster-general/main.pdf) | [Paper](https://github.com/givasile/effector-paper/blob/main/xai-conference-submission/effector_xai_conf.pdf)
### 🌍 Adoption & Collaborations
- **[AIDAPT Project](https://www.ai-dapt.eu/effector/)**
Leveraging `effector` for explainable AI solutions.
### 🔍 Additional Resources
- **Medium Post**
[Effector: An eXplainability Library for Global and Regional Effects](https://medium.com/@ntipakos/effector-bfe17206672c)
- **Courses & Lists**:
[IML Course @ LMU](https://slds-lmu.github.io/iml/)
[Awesome ML Interpretability](https://github.com/jphall663/awesome-machine-learning-interpretability)
[Awesome XAI](https://github.com/wangyongjie-ntu/Awesome-explainable-AI)
[Best of ML Python](https://github.com/ml-tooling/best-of-ml-python)
### 📚 Related Publications
Papers that have inspired `effector`:
- **REPID: Regional Effects in Predictive Models**
Herbinger et al., 2022 - [Link](https://proceedings.mlr.press/v151/herbinger22a)
- **Decomposing Global Feature Effects Based on Feature Interactions**
Herbinger et al., 2023 - [Link](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.00541.pdf)
- **RHALE: Robust Heterogeneity-Aware Effects**
Gkolemis Vasilis et al., 2023 - [Link](https://ebooks.iospress.nl/doi/10.3233/FAIA230354)
- **DALE: Decomposing Global Feature Effects**
Gkolemis Vasilis et al., 2023 - [Link](https://proceedings.mlr.press/v189/gkolemis23a/gkolemis23a.pdf)
- **Greedy Function Approximation: A Gradient Boosting Machine**
Friedman, 2001 - [Link](https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1013203451)
- **Visualizing Predictor Effects in Black-Box Models**
Apley, 2016 - [Link](https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.08468)
- **SHAP: A Unified Approach to Model Interpretation**
Lundberg & Lee, 2017 - [Link](https://papers.nips.cc/paper/7062-a-unified-approach-to-interpreting-model-predictions)
- **Regionally Additive Models: Explainable-by-design models minimizing feature interactions**
Gkolemis Vasilis et al., 2023 - [Link](https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.12215)
---
## License
`effector` is released under the [MIT License](https://github.com/givasile/effector/blob/main/LICENSE).
---
## Powered by:
- **[AIDAPT](https://www.ai-dapt.eu/)**
- **XMANAI**
