AI Observability

AI Observability refers to the capacity to understand and interpret the processes, decisions, and actions of an AI system. It emphasizes making the system's internal workings transparent and decipherable, allowing for a clearer understanding of how inputs are transformed into outputs.

It is considered a key facet of AI transparency and explicability, aiming to increase trust and confidence in AI systems, particularly in critical applications where their decisions can have significant impacts.

How AI Observability works

AI Observability works by providing the necessary tools and mechanisms to delve into the AI model's decision processes. The degree of observability can vary based on the type of AI model used. For instance, simpler, linear models may offer a higher level of observability (or interpretability), but at the cost of predictive power. On the other hand, complex models like deep learning might have increased predictive power but reduced observability.

To improve AI observability, techniques such as visualizations, and feature attribution methods are often used. For instance, visualizations can help outline the decision-making process, highlighting which factors contribute most significantly to a particular decision. Feature attribution methods, on the other hand, help understand how much each input feature contributes to the final decision.

AI observability becomes crucial in domains such as healthcare, finance, or self-driving cars where understanding why a particular decision was made and being able to explain it to stakeholders is extremely important. However, achieving a high degree of observability requires careful design of the AI model and interpretability tools, along with comprehensive testing and validation to ensure reliable and accurate results.