A Differentiable Integer Linear Programming Solver for Explanation-Based Natural Language Inference

Mokanarangan Thayaparan, Marco Valentino, André Freitas


Abstract
Integer Linear Programming (ILP) has been proposed as a formalism for encoding precise structural and semantic constraints for Natural Language Inference (NLI). However, traditional ILP frameworks are non-differentiable, posing critical challenges for the integration of continuous language representations based on deep learning. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach, named Diff-Comb Explainer, a neuro-symbolic architecture for explanation-based NLI based on Differentiable BlackBox Combinatorial Solvers (DBCS). Differently from existing neuro-symbolic solvers, Diff-Comb Explainer does not necessitate a continuous relaxation of the semantic constraints, enabling a direct, more precise, and efficient incorporation of neural representations into the ILP formulation. Our experiments demonstrate that Diff-Comb Explainer achieves superior performance when compared to conventional ILP solvers, neuro-symbolic black-box solvers, and Transformer-based encoders. Moreover, a deeper analysis reveals that Diff-Comb Explainer can significantly improve the precision, consistency, and faithfulness of the constructed explanations, opening new opportunities for research on neuro-symbolic architectures for explainable and transparent NLI in complex domains.
Anthology ID:
2024.lrec-main.40
Volume:
Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)
Month:
May
Year:
2024
Address:
Torino, Italia
Editors:
Nicoletta Calzolari, Min-Yen Kan, Veronique Hoste, Alessandro Lenci, Sakriani Sakti, Nianwen Xue
Venues:
LREC | COLING
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA and ICCL
Note:
Pages:
449–458
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.40
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Mokanarangan Thayaparan, Marco Valentino, and André Freitas. 2024. A Differentiable Integer Linear Programming Solver for Explanation-Based Natural Language Inference. In Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024), pages 449–458, Torino, Italia. ELRA and ICCL.
Cite (Informal):
A Differentiable Integer Linear Programming Solver for Explanation-Based Natural Language Inference (Thayaparan et al., LREC-COLING 2024)
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PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.40.pdf