# Using LLMs for Explaining Sets of Counterfactual Examples to Final Users

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.15133 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.15133/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 16 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 Aug 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Explanation in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Social Sciences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.07269/) (2017)
- [A Survey Of Methods For Explaining Black Box Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.01933/) (2018)
- [Explaining Machine Learning Classifiers through Diverse Counterfactual Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.07697/) (2019)
- [Chain-of-Table: Evolving Tables in the Reasoning Chain for Table Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04398/) (2024)
- [On the Self-Verification Limitations of Large Language Models on Reasoning and Planning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08115/) (2024)
- [Faithful Explanations of Black-box NLP Models Using LLM-generated Counterfactuals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.00603/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Natural Language Counterfactual Explanations for Graphs Using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.09295/) (2024)
- [Don't Just Translate, Agitate: Using Large Language Models as Devil's Advocates for AI Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12424/) (2025)
- [Show Me How: Benefits and Challenges of Agent-Augmented Counterfactual Explanations for Non-Expert Users](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13897/) (2025)
- [Let's Get You Hired: A Job Seeker's Perspective on Multi-Agent Recruitment Systems for Explaining Hiring Decisions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.20312/) (2025)
- [Enhancing XAI Narratives through Multi-Narrative Refinement and Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.03134/) (2025)
- [Side-by-side Comparison Amplifies Dialect Bias in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24384/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Causality is vital for understanding true cause-and-effect relationships between variables within predictive models, rather than relying on mere correlations, making it highly relevant in the field of Explainable AI. In an automated decision-making scenario, causal inference methods can analyze the underlying data-generation process, enabling explanations of a model's decision by manipulating features and creating counterfactual examples. These counterfactuals explore hypothetical scenarios where a minimal number of factors are altered, providing end-users with valuable information on how to change their situation. However, interpreting a set of multiple counterfactuals can be challenging for end-users who are not used to analyzing raw data records. In our work, we propose a novel multi-step pipeline that uses counterfactuals to generate natural language explanations of actions that will lead to a change in outcome in classifiers of tabular data using LLMs. This pipeline is designed to guide the LLM through smaller tasks that mimic human reasoning when explaining a decision based on counterfactual cases. We conducted various experiments using a public dataset and proposed a method of closed-loop evaluation to assess the coherence of the final explanation with the counterfactuals, as well as the quality of the content. Results are promising, although further experiments with other datasets and human evaluations should be carried out.