# Unifying Perspectives: Plausible Counterfactual Explanations on Global, Group-wise, and Local Levels

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.17642 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17642/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 43 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 May 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [Variational Inference with Normalizing Flows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.05770/) (2015)
- [Density estimation using Real NVP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.08803/) (2016)
- [Counterfactual Explanations without Opening the Black Box: Automated Decisions and the GDPR](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00399/) (2017)
- [NICE: Non-linear Independent Components Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1410.8516/) (2014)
- [Masked Autoregressive Flow for Density Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07057/) (2017)
- [Explaining Machine Learning Classifiers through Diverse Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.07697/) (2019)
- [European Union regulations on algorithmic decision-making and a "right to explanation"](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.08813/) (2016)
- [From Softmax to Sparsemax: A Sparse Model of Attention and Multi-Label Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.02068/) (2016)
- [Explanations based on the Missing: Towards Contrastive Explanations with Pertinent Negatives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.07623/) (2018)
- [FACE: Feasible and Actionable Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.09369/) (2019)
- [Learning Model-Agnostic Counterfactual Explanations for Tabular Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.09398/) (2019)
- [Preserving Causal Constraints in Counterfactual Explanations for Machine Learning Classifiers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.03277/) (2019)
- [A survey of algorithmic recourse: definitions, formulations, solutions, and prospects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.04050/) (2020)
- [Efficient Search for Diverse Coherent Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.04909/) (2019)
- [Towards Explainable Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.12072/) (2019)
- [If Only We Had Better Counterfactual Explanations: Five Key Deficits to Rectify in the Evaluation of Counterfactual XAI Techniques](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.01035/) (2021)
- [Convex Density Constraints for Computing Plausible Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.04862/) (2020)
- [GLOBE-CE: A Translation-Based Approach for Global Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17021/) (2023)
- [Model Agnostic Multilevel Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.06005/) (2020)
- [Explaining Groups of Points in Low-Dimensional Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.01640/) (2020)
- [Global Counterfactual Explanations: Investigations, Implementations and Improvements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06917/) (2022)
- [A Two-Stage Algorithm for Cost-Efficient Multi-instance Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.01221/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [DiCoFlex: Model-agnostic diverse counterfactuals with flexible control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.23700/) (2025)
- [Explaining Concept Drift through the Evolution of Group Counterfactuals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.09616/) (2025)
- [Your Model Is Unfair, Are You Even Aware? Inverse Relationship Between Comprehension and Trust in Explainability Visualizations of Biased ML Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.00140/) (2025)
- [Optimal Transport Group Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.20692/) (2026)
- [FCA-Guided Counterfactual Explanations for Multi-Modal Breast Cancer Diagnosis: A Framework Achieving Perfect Validity with Emergent Sparsity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.20067/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The growing complexity of AI systems has intensified the need for transparency through Explainable AI (XAI). Counterfactual explanations (CFs) offer actionable "what-if" scenarios on three levels: Local CFs providing instance-specific insights, Global CFs addressing broader trends, and Group-wise CFs (GWCFs) striking a balance and revealing patterns within cohesive groups. Despite the availability of methods for each granularity level, the field lacks a unified method that integrates these complementary approaches. We address this limitation by proposing a gradient-based optimization method for differentiable models that generates Local, Global, and Group-wise Counterfactual Explanations in a unified manner. We especially enhance GWCF generation by combining instance grouping and counterfactual generation into a single efficient process, replacing traditional two-step methods. Moreover, to ensure trustworthiness, we innovatively introduce the integration of plausibility criteria into the GWCF domain, making explanations both valid and realistic. Our results demonstrate the method's effectiveness in balancing validity, proximity, and plausibility while optimizing group granularity, with practical utility validated through practical use cases.