{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4417167341","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","title":"If Concept Bottlenecks are the Question, are Foundation Models the Answer?","display_name":"If Concept Bottlenecks are the Question, are Foundation Models the Answer?","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-04-16","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4417167341","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S62148650","display_name":"Machine Learning","issn_l":"0885-6125","issn":["0885-6125","1573-0565"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319900","host_organization_name":"Springer Science+Business Media","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319900","https://openalex.org/P4310319965"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Springer Science+Business Media","Springer Nature"],"type":"journal"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Machine Learning","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["arxiv","crossref","datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"hybrid","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5120734021","display_name":"Nicola Debole","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I193223587","display_name":"University of Trento","ror":"https://ror.org/05trd4x28","country_code":"IT","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}],"countries":["IT"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Nicola Debole","raw_affiliation_strings":["DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5018093162","display_name":"Pietro Barbiero","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3155-2564"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210126328","display_name":"IBM Research - Zurich","ror":"https://ror.org/02js37d36","country_code":"CH","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1341412227","https://openalex.org/I4210114115","https://openalex.org/I4210126328"]}],"countries":["CH"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Pietro Barbiero","raw_affiliation_strings":["IBM Research Zurich, R\u00fcschlikon, Switzerland"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"IBM Research Zurich, R\u00fcschlikon, Switzerland","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210126328"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5058772124","display_name":"Francesco Giannini","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8492-8110"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I108290504","display_name":"University of Pisa","ror":"https://ror.org/03ad39j10","country_code":"IT","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I108290504"]}],"countries":["IT"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Francesco Giannini","raw_affiliation_strings":["DI, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"DI, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I108290504"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5066187890","display_name":"Andrea Passerini","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2765-5395"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I193223587","display_name":"University of Trento","ror":"https://ror.org/05trd4x28","country_code":"IT","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}],"countries":["IT"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Andrea Passerini","raw_affiliation_strings":["DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5001174680","display_name":"Stefano Teso","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2340-9461"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I193223587","display_name":"University of Trento","ror":"https://ror.org/05trd4x28","country_code":"IT","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}],"countries":["IT"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Stefano Teso","raw_affiliation_strings":["CIMeC, University of Trento, Trento, Italy","DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"CIMeC, University of Trento, Trento, Italy","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5086308196","display_name":"Emanuele Marconato","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7407-5465"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I193223587","display_name":"University of Trento","ror":"https://ror.org/05trd4x28","country_code":"IT","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}],"countries":["IT"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Emanuele Marconato","raw_affiliation_strings":["DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":6,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5086308196"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"],"apc_list":{"value":2390,"currency":"EUR","value_usd":2990},"apc_paid":{"value":2390,"currency":"EUR","value_usd":2990},"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.0141803,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":"115","issue":"5","first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12026","display_name":"Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)","score":0.9204000234603882,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12026","display_name":"Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)","score":0.9204000234603882,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11307","display_name":"Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning","score":0.014499999582767487,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11714","display_name":"Multimodal Machine Learning Applications","score":0.00860000029206276,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/bottleneck","display_name":"Bottleneck","score":0.8309000134468079},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/leverage","display_name":"Leverage (statistics)","score":0.7305999994277954},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/task","display_name":"Task (project management)","score":0.5893999934196472},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/quality","display_name":"Quality (philosophy)","score":0.570900022983551},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/selection","display_name":"Selection (genetic algorithm)","score":0.47049999237060547},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/foundation","display_name":"Foundation (evidence)","score":0.4512999951839447}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780513914","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18210350","display_name":"Bottleneck","level":2,"score":0.8309000134468079},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7325000166893005},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C153083717","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6535263","display_name":"Leverage (statistics)","level":2,"score":0.7305999994277954},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780451532","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q759676","display_name":"Task (project management)","level":2,"score":0.5893999934196472},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779530757","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1207505","display_name":"Quality (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.570900022983551},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C81917197","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q628760","display_name":"Selection (genetic algorithm)","level":2,"score":0.47049999237060547},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780966255","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5474306","display_name":"Foundation (evidence)","level":2,"score":0.4512999951839447},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.43720000982284546},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.382999986410141},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776760102","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5139990","display_name":"Code (set theory)","level":3,"score":0.32690000534057617},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C18762648","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42213","display_name":"Work (physics)","level":2,"score":0.32179999351501465},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776207758","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5303302","display_name":"Downstream (manufacturing)","level":2,"score":0.3181000053882599},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C58328972","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184609","display_name":"Expert system","level":2,"score":0.3140999972820282},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C50644808","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q192776","display_name":"Artificial neural network","level":2,"score":0.3133000135421753},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C112930515","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4389547","display_name":"Risk analysis (engineering)","level":1,"score":0.3125},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C539667460","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2414942","display_name":"Management science","level":1,"score":0.2696000039577484},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2522767166","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2374463","display_name":"Data science","level":1,"score":0.25859999656677246},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C115903868","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80993","display_name":"Software engineering","level":1,"score":0.25380000472068787}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":5,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S62148650","display_name":"Machine Learning","issn_l":"0885-6125","issn":["0885-6125","1573-0565"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319900","host_organization_name":"Springer Science+Business Media","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319900","https://openalex.org/P4310319965"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Springer Science+Business Media","Springer Nature"],"type":"journal"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Machine Learning","raw_type":"journal-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2504.19774","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"http://arxiv.org/abs/2504.19774","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.19774","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4393918464","display_name":"ArXiv.org","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2504.19774","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.19774","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.19774","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4393918464","display_name":"ArXiv.org","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},{"id":"pmh:oai:iris.unitn.it:11572/487298","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/11572/487298","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306401913","display_name":"Institutional Research Information System (Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Trento)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I193223587","host_organization_name":"University of Trento","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I193223587"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"info:eu-repo/semantics/article"},{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.19774","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2504.19774","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-026-06999-y","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S62148650","display_name":"Machine Learning","issn_l":"0885-6125","issn":["0885-6125","1573-0565"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319900","host_organization_name":"Springer Science+Business Media","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319900","https://openalex.org/P4310319965"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Springer Science+Business Media","Springer Nature"],"type":"journal"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Machine Learning","raw_type":"journal-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/G2070155107","display_name":null,"funder_award_id":"101120763","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320320300","funder_display_name":"European Commission"}],"funders":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320320300","display_name":"European Commission","ror":"https://ror.org/00k4n6c32"},{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320322275","display_name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Trento","ror":"https://ror.org/05trd4x28"}],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Abstract":[0],"Concept":[1],"Bottleneck":[2],"Models":[3],"(CBMs)":[4],"are":[5,81,172],"neural":[6],"networks":[7],"designed":[8],"to":[9,24,37,76,83,136],"conjoin":[10],"high":[11],"performance":[12,53],"with":[13,104],"ante-hoc":[14],"interpretability.":[15],"CBMs":[16],"work":[17],"by":[18,96],"first":[19],"mapping":[20],"inputs":[21],"(e.g.,":[22,27,42],"images)":[23],"high-level":[25],"concepts":[26,63,74,142],"visible":[28],"objects":[29],"and":[30,33,54,85,166,170],"their":[31,140],"properties)":[32],"then":[34],"use":[35],"these":[36],"solve":[38],"a":[39,145],"downstream":[40],"task":[41],"tagging":[43],"or":[44],"scoring":[45],"an":[46,49],"image)":[47],"in":[48,88],"interpretable":[50],"manner.":[51],"Their":[52],"interpretability,":[55],"however,":[56],"hinge":[57],"on":[58,121,155],"the":[59,62,115,122,125,137,156],"quality":[60,73,123,171],"of":[61,117,124,147],"they":[64],"learn":[65],".":[66,182],"The":[67],"go-to":[68],"strategy":[69],"for":[70],"ensuring":[71],"good":[72],"is":[75,111,120,178],"leverage":[77],"expert":[78,164],"annotations,":[79,165],"which":[80],"expensive":[82],"collect":[84],"seldom":[86],"available":[87,179],"applications.":[89],"Researchers":[90],"have":[91],"recently":[92],"addressed":[93],"this":[94,130],"issue":[95],"introducing":[97],"\u201cVLM-CBM\u201d":[98],"architectures":[99],"that":[100,167],"replace":[101],"manual":[102],"annotations":[103],"weak":[105],"supervision":[106,159],"from":[107,163],"foundation":[108],"models.":[109],"It":[110],"however":[112],"unclear":[113],"what":[114],"impact":[116],"doing":[118],"so":[119],"learned":[126,141],"concepts.":[127],"To":[128],"answer":[129],"question,":[131],"we":[132],"put":[133],"state-of-the-art":[134],"VLM-CBMs":[135],"test,":[138],"analyzing":[139],"empirically":[143],"using":[144],"selection":[146],"significant":[148],"metrics.":[149],"Our":[150,176],"results":[151],"show":[152],"that,":[153],"depending":[154],"task,":[157],"VLM":[158],"can":[160],"noticeably":[161],"differ":[162],"concept":[168],"accuracy":[169],"not":[173],"strongly":[174],"correlated.":[175],"code":[177],"at":[180],"https://github.com/debryu/CQA":[181]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-06-04T09:04:59.091469","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}
