---
_id: '51368'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Dealing with opaque algorithms, the frequent overlap between transparency
    and explainability produces seemingly unsolvable dilemmas, as the much-discussed
    trade-off between model performance and model transparency. Referring to Niklas
    Luhmann's notion of communication, the paper argues that explainability does not
    necessarily require transparency and proposes an alternative approach. Explanations
    as communicative processes do not imply any disclosure of thoughts or neural processes,
    but only reformulations that provide the partners with additional elements and
    enable them to understand (from their perspective) what has been done and why.
    Recent computational approaches aiming at post-hoc explainability reproduce what
    happens in communication, producing explanations of the working of algorithms
    that can be different from the processes of the algorithms.
author:
- first_name: 'Elena '
  full_name: 'Esposito, Elena '
  last_name: Esposito
citation:
  ama: Esposito E. Does Explainability Require Transparency? <i>Sociologica</i>. 2023;16(3):17-27.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804">10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804</a>
  apa: Esposito, E. (2023). Does Explainability Require Transparency? <i>Sociologica</i>,
    <i>16</i>(3), 17–27. <a href="https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804">https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804</a>
  bibtex: '@article{Esposito_2023, title={Does Explainability Require Transparency?},
    volume={16}, DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804">10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804</a>},
    number={3}, journal={Sociologica}, author={Esposito, Elena }, year={2023}, pages={17–27}
    }'
  chicago: 'Esposito, Elena . “Does Explainability Require Transparency?” <i>Sociologica</i>
    16, no. 3 (2023): 17–27. <a href="https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804">https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804</a>.'
  ieee: 'E. Esposito, “Does Explainability Require Transparency?,” <i>Sociologica</i>,
    vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 17–27, 2023, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804">10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804</a>.'
  mla: Esposito, Elena. “Does Explainability Require Transparency?” <i>Sociologica</i>,
    vol. 16, no. 3, 2023, pp. 17–27, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804">10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804</a>.
  short: E. Esposito, Sociologica 16 (2023) 17–27.
date_created: 2024-02-18T10:16:43Z
date_updated: 2024-02-26T08:46:26Z
department:
- _id: '660'
doi: 10.6092/ISSN.1971-8853/15804
intvolume: '        16'
issue: '3'
keyword:
- Explainable AI
- Transparency
- Explanation
- Communication
- Sociological systems theory
language:
- iso: eng
page: 17-27
project:
- _id: '121'
  grant_number: '438445824'
  name: 'TRR 318 - B01: TRR 318 - Ein dialogbasierter Ansatz zur Erklärung von Modellen
    des maschinellen Lernens (Teilprojekt B01)'
publication: Sociologica
status: public
title: Does Explainability Require Transparency?
type: journal_article
user_id: '54779'
volume: 16
year: '2023'
...