# Efficient computation of contrastive explanations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.02647 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02647/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 6 Oct 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Generating Feasible and Plausible Counterfactual Explanations for Outcome Prediction of Business Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09232/) (2024)
- [Contrastive Explanations for Explaining Model Adaptations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.02459/) (2021)
- [When a Relation Tells More Than a Concept: Exploring and Evaluating Classifier Decisions with CoReX](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01661/) (2024)
- [Rethinking Explanations: Formalizing Contrast in Description Logics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.01442/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the increasing deployment of machine learning systems in practice, transparency and explainability have become serious issues. Contrastive explanations are considered to be useful and intuitive, in particular when it comes to explaining decisions to lay people, since they mimic the way in which humans explain. Yet, so far, comparably little research has addressed computationally feasible technologies, which allow guarantees on uniqueness and optimality of the explanation and which enable an easy incorporation of additional constraints. Here, we will focus on specific types of models rather than black-box technologies. We study the relation of contrastive and counterfactual explanations and propose mathematical formalizations as well as a 2-phase algorithm for efficiently computing (plausible) pertinent positives of many standard machine learning models.