In plain words: Causal diagrams, arrows showing what causes what, let computers reason about what happens when something is changed, not just spot patterns in data. The article maps where this idea meets machine learning and argues its hardest open problems depend on it.
Abstract
Graphical causal inference as pioneered by Judea Pearl arose from research on artificial intelligence (AI), and for a long time had little connection to the field of machine learning. This article discusses where links have been and should be established, introducing key concepts along the way. It argues that the hard open problems of machine learning and AI are intrinsically related to causality, and explains how the field is beginning to understand them.
Bernhard Schölkopf
arXiv:1911.10500 · cs.LG, cs.AI, stat.ML · submitted Nov 24, 2019 · updated Dec 23, 2019
abstract · pdf · html