The DBIS working group of Prof. Manfred Reichert is involved in the cooperative doctoral program “Data Science & Analytics” funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg. As a DBIS scholarship holder, Tobias Jahn is working on Explainable Decision Support Systems as part of his doctoral project. In addition to his doctorate, he works part-time for the Transfer Center for Digitization, Analytics and Data Science Ulm (DASU) as a data scientist.
Background to the doctoral program “Data Science & Analytics”
The use of data science methods, in particular artificial intelligence and machine learning, is now standard in many areas of science, business, medicine and society. Advancing digitalization and the digital transformation are reinforcing this trend. Data science methods and the associated analysis processes (analytics) are now increasingly being used for decision-making processes. Systems and algorithms are taking over decisions, including those that have far-reaching consequences or are even irreversible. This shows the urgent need to put data science methods, procedures and algorithms on a solid foundation. Terms such as explainability, traceability, transparency and non-discrimination are being discussed intensively in the field of AI, among others. The Cooperative Doctoral Program (KPK) will contribute to application-oriented research in the field of Data Science & Analytics by going beyond transparency and explainability.
Trust in data science methods naturally presupposes explainability and traceability. However, these terms are aimed more at the period after the application of data science methods. However, trusting a method usually requires guarantees about the expected behaviour of the method before and during its application. This requires a quantitative investigation of the methods, the specification of key influencing factors, sensitivities and dependencies. This also allows the control of procedures and algorithms and - depending on the application - their monitoring and control , possibly again by procedures and algorithms.