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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Hybrid Semantic Bottleneck Networks for Interpretable Deep Learning

Authors: Pereira da Silva, Matheus;

Hybrid Semantic Bottleneck Networks for Interpretable Deep Learning

Abstract

Deep learning models often achieve high predictive accuracy at the cost of interpretability, limiting their applicability in safety-critical and regulated domains. Concept Bottleneck Models (CBMs) address this issue by enforcing decisions through human-interpretable concepts, but frequently suffer from a significant loss in predictive performance due to excessive representational constraints. In this work, we propose a hybrid semantic bottleneck architecture that explicitly separates human-defined, auditable concepts from unconstrained latent representations. The proposed model enforces interpretability where semantic supervision is available, while preserving residual capacity for performance-critical information. Experiments on the FashionMNIST dataset demonstrate that the hybrid approach recovers most of the accuracy of a standard convolutional baseline while maintaining over 98% accuracy on human-supervised concepts. Qualitative analysis further shows that the model activates human concepts only when semantically applicable and explicitly refrains from producing explanations when no known concept applies. These results suggest that interpretability and performance are not inherently conflicting objectives, provided that semantic constraints are applied selectively rather than globally. This record is supplemented by an executable Google Colab notebook. Google Colab Examples

Keywords

Interpretable Machine Learning, Explainable AI, Hybrid Neural Architectures, Concept Bottleneck Models, Trustworthy AI, Semantic Representations

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
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