A Generic Explainability Framework for Function Circuits

This paper presents the theoretical foundations of a data lineage framework for a model of computation called a function circuit, which is a directed graph of elementary calculation units called "functions". The proposed framework allow functions to manipulate arbitrary data structures, and allows lineage relationships to be expressed at a fine level of granularity over these structures by introducing the abstract concept of designator. Moreover, the lineage graphs produced by this framework allow multiple alternate explanations of a function’s outputs from its inputs. The theoretical groundwork presented in this paper opens the way to the implementation of a generic lineage library for function circuits.