Visual Analytics for Human-Centered Machine Learning

We introduce a new research area in visual analytics (VA) aiming to bridge existing gaps between methods of interactive machine learning (ML) and eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), on one side, and human minds, on the other side. The gaps are, first, a conceptual mismatch between ML/XAI outputs and human mental models and ways of reasoning, and second, a mismatch between the information quantity and level of detail and human capabilities to perceive and understand. A grand challenge is to adapt ML and XAI to human goals, concepts, values, and ways of thinking. Complementing the current efforts in XAI towards solving this challenge, VA can contribute by exploiting the potential of visualization as an effective way of communicating information to humans and a strong trigger of human abstractive perception and thinking. We propose a cross-disciplinary research framework and formulate research directions for VA.