A Shift in Perspective on Causality in Domain Generalization

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2508.12798v1
• Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:19:33 GMT
• Title: A Shift in Perspective on Causality in Domain Generalization
• Authors: Damian Machlanski, Stephanie Riley, Edward Moroshko, Kurt Butler, Panagiotis Dimitrakopoulos, Thomas Melistas, Akchunya Chanchal, Steven McDonagh, Ricardo Silva, Sotirios A. Tsaftaris,
• Abstract summary: We revisit the claims of the causality and DG literature.<n>We argue for a more nuanced theory of the role of causality in generalization.<n>We also provide an interactive demo at https://chai-uk.github.io/ukairs25-causal-predictors/.
• Score: 16.172002413067396
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: The promise that causal modelling can lead to robust AI generalization has been challenged in recent work on domain generalization (DG) benchmarks. We revisit the claims of the causality and DG literature, reconciling apparent contradictions and advocating for a more nuanced theory of the role of causality in generalization. We also provide an interactive demo at https://chai-uk.github.io/ukairs25-causal-predictors/.

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