Interventional Sum-Product Networks: Causal Inference with Tractable Probabilistic ModelsDownload PDF

Published: 09 Nov 2021, Last Modified: 05 May 2023NeurIPS 2021 PosterReaders: Everyone
Keywords: Interventions, Causality, Tractablity, Probabilistic Models
TL;DR: We consider the problem of learning interventional distributions (i.e., answering causal queries) with tractable probabilistic models (gated SPN).
Abstract: While probabilistic models are an important tool for studying causality, doing so suffers from the intractability of inference. As a step towards tractable causal models, we consider the problem of learning interventional distributions using sum-product networks (SPNs) that are over-parameterized by gate functions, e.g., neural networks. Providing an arbitrarily intervened causal graph as input, effectively subsuming Pearl's do-operator, the gate function predicts the parameters of the SPN. The resulting interventional SPNs are motivated and illustrated by a structural causal model themed around personal health. Our empirical evaluation against competing methods from both generative and causal modelling demonstrates that interventional SPNs indeed are both expressive and causally adequate.
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Supplementary Material: pdf
Code: https://github.com/zecevic-matej/iSPN
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