# Component Based Quantum Machine Learning Explainability

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12378 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.12378/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [A Unified Approach to Interpreting Model Predictions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07874/) (2017)
- [Visualizing the Effects of Predictor Variables in Black Box Supervised Learning Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.08468/) (2016)
- [Explaining Quantum Circuits with Shapley Values: Towards Explainable Quantum Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.09138/) (2023)
- [eXplainable AI for Quantum Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.01441/) (2022)
- [Study of Feature Importance for Quantum Machine Learning Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.11204/) (2022)
- [Opportunities and limitations of explaining quantum machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.14753/) (2024)
- [Feature Importance and Explainability in Quantum Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.08917/) (2024)
- [Large Scale Diverse Combinatorial Optimization: ESPN Fantasy Football Player Trades](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.02859/) (2021)
- [An Independent Implementation of Quantum Machine Learning Algorithms in Qiskit for Genomic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.09781/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Explainable ML algorithms are designed to provide transparency and insight into their decision-making process. Explaining how ML models come to their prediction is critical in fields such as healthcare and finance, as it provides insight into how models can help detect bias in predictions and help comply with GDPR compliance in these fields. QML leverages quantum phenomena such as entanglement and superposition, offering the potential for computational speedup and greater insights compared to classical ML. However, QML models also inherit the black-box nature of their classical counterparts, requiring the development of explainability techniques to be applied to these QML models to help understand why and how a particular output was generated. This paper will explore the idea of creating a modular, explainable QML framework that splits QML algorithms into their core components, such as feature maps, variational circuits (ansatz), optimizers, kernels, and quantum-classical loops. Each component will be analyzed using explainability techniques, such as ALE and SHAP, which have been adapted to analyse the different components of these QML algorithms. By combining insights from these parts, the paper aims to infer explainability to the overall QML model.