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Neural Information Processing Systems

However,as already suggested, our model is not restricted to any specific intervention type or instantiation. Figure 1 (a) illustrates the performance of iSPN on theCausal Health data setfordifferent intervention types (perfect, atomic), noise terms (Gaussian, Gamma, Beta) and instantiations (Indicator Functions, Modifications). Nonetheless, it can be observed that some interventions are being modelled more precisely than others, e.g. ForEarthquakeand Cancer data sets, we use 5 different number ofsum node weights: 600, 1200, 1800, 2400 and3200. Forthesynthetic causal health data set we use 300, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000.



Uncovering Causal Relation Shifts in Event Sequences under Out-of-Domain Interventions

Zinat, Kazi Tasnim, Zhou, Yun, Lyu, Xiang, Wang, Yawei, Liu, Zhicheng, Xu, Panpan

arXiv.org Machine Learning

Inferring causal relationships between event pairs in a temporal sequence is applicable in many domains such as healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation. Most existing work on causal inference primarily focuses on event types within the designated domain, without considering the impact of exogenous out-of-domain interventions. In real-world settings, these out-of-domain interventions can significantly alter causal dynamics. To address this gap, we propose a new causal framework to define average treatment effect (ATE), beyond independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) data in classic Rubin's causal framework, to capture the causal relation shift between events of temporal process under out-of-domain intervention. We design an unbiased ATE estimator, and devise a Transformer-based neural network model to handle both long-range temporal dependencies and local patterns while integrating out-of-domain intervention information into process modeling. Extensive experiments on both simulated and real-world datasets demonstrate that our method outperforms baselines in ATE estimation and goodness-of-fit under out-of-domain-augmented point processes. The supplementary materials are available here.


Investigating the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Tailored Behavior Change Messaging: Connecting Contextual Bandit with Large Language Models

Song, Haochen, Hofer, Dominik, Islambouli, Rania, Hawkins, Laura, Bhattacharjee, Ananya, Franklin, Meredith, Williams, Joseph Jay

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Machine learning approaches, such as contextual multi-armed bandit (cMAB) algorithms, offer a promising strategy to reduce sedentary behavior by delivering personalized interventions to encourage physical activity. However, cMAB algorithms typically require large participant samples to learn effectively and may overlook key psychological factors that are not explicitly encoded in the model. In this study, we propose a hybrid approach that combines cMAB for selecting intervention types with large language models (LLMs) to personalize message content. We evaluate four intervention types: behavioral self-monitoring, gain-framed, loss-framed, and social comparison, each delivered as a motivational message aimed at increasing motivation for physical activity and daily step count. Message content is further personalized using dynamic contextual factors including daily fluctuations in self-efficacy, social influence, and regulatory focus. Over a seven-day trial, participants receive daily messages assigned by one of four models: cMAB alone, LLM alone, combined cMAB with LLM personalization (cMABxLLM), or equal randomization (RCT). Outcomes include daily step count and message acceptance, assessed via ecological momentary assessments (EMAs). We apply a causal inference framework to evaluate the effects of each model. Our findings offer new insights into the complementary roles of LLM-based personalization and cMAB adaptation in promoting physical activity through personalized behavioral messaging.


Robots in the Middle: Evaluating LLMs in Dispute Resolution

Tan, Jinzhe, Westermann, Hannes, Pottanigari, Nikhil Reddy, Šavelka, Jaromír, Meeùs, Sébastien, Godet, Mia, Benyekhlef, Karim

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Mediation is a dispute resolution method featuring a neutral third-party (mediator) who intervenes to help the individuals resolve their dispute. In this paper, we investigate to which extent large language models (LLMs) are able to act as mediators. We investigate whether LLMs are able to analyze dispute conversations, select suitable intervention types, and generate appropriate intervention messages. Using a novel, manually created dataset of 50 dispute scenarios, we conduct a blind evaluation comparing LLMs with human annotators across several key metrics. Overall, the LLMs showed strong performance, even outperforming our human annotators across dimensions. Specifically, in 62% of the cases, the LLMs chose intervention types that were rated as better than or equivalent to those chosen by humans. Moreover, in 84% of the cases, the intervention messages generated by the LLMs were rated as better than or equal to the intervention messages written by humans. LLMs likewise performed favourably on metrics such as impartiality, understanding and contextualization. Our results demonstrate the potential of integrating AI in online dispute resolution (ODR) platforms.


Time2Stop: Adaptive and Explainable Human-AI Loop for Smartphone Overuse Intervention

Orzikulova, Adiba, Xiao, Han, Li, Zhipeng, Yan, Yukang, Wang, Yuntao, Shi, Yuanchun, Ghassemi, Marzyeh, Lee, Sung-Ju, Dey, Anind K, Xu, Xuhai "Orson"

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Despite a rich history of investigating smartphone overuse intervention techniques, AI-based just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) methods for overuse reduction are lacking. We develop Time2Stop, an intelligent, adaptive, and explainable JITAI system that leverages machine learning to identify optimal intervention timings, introduces interventions with transparent AI explanations, and collects user feedback to establish a human-AI loop and adapt the intervention model over time. We conducted an 8-week field experiment (N=71) to evaluate the effectiveness of both the adaptation and explanation aspects of Time2Stop. Our results indicate that our adaptive models significantly outperform the baseline methods on intervention accuracy (>32.8\% relatively) and receptivity (>8.0\%). In addition, incorporating explanations further enhances the effectiveness by 53.8\% and 11.4\% on accuracy and receptivity, respectively. Moreover, Time2Stop significantly reduces overuse, decreasing app visit frequency by 7.0$\sim$8.9\%. Our subjective data also echoed these quantitative measures. Participants preferred the adaptive interventions and rated the system highly on intervention time accuracy, effectiveness, and level of trust. We envision our work can inspire future research on JITAI systems with a human-AI loop to evolve with users.


SSDOnt: an Ontology for representing Single-Subject Design Studies

Berges, Idoia, Bermúdez, Jesús, Illarramendi, Arantza

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Background: Single-Subject Design is used in several areas such as education and biomedicine. However, no suited formal vocabulary exists for annotating the detailed configuration and the results of this type of research studies with the appropriate granularity for looking for information about them. Therefore, the search for those study designs relies heavily on a syntactical search on the abstract, keywords or full text of the publications about the study, which entails some limitations. Objective: To present SSDOnt, a specific purpose ontology for describing and annotating single-subject design studies, so that complex questions can be asked about them afterwards. Methods: The ontology was developed following the NeOn methodology. Once the requirements of the ontology were defined, a formal model was described in a Description Logic and later implemented in the ontology language OWL 2 DL. Results: We show how the ontology provides a reference model with a suitable terminology for the annotation and searching of single-subject design studies and their main components, such as the phases, the intervention types, the outcomes and the results. Some mappings with terms of related ontologies have been established. We show as proof-of-concept that classes in the ontology can be easily extended to annotate more precise information about specific interventions and outcomes such as those related to autism. Moreover, we provide examples of some types of queries that can be posed to the ontology. Conclusions: SSDOnt has achieved the purpose of covering the descriptions of the domain of single-subject research studies.