NeuralSentinel: Safeguarding Neural Network Reliability and Trustworthiness

Abstract: The usage of AI systems has increased exponentially, thanks to their ability to reduce the amount of data to be analyzed, the user efforts and preserving a high rate of accuracy. However, introducing this new element in the loop has converted them into attacked points that can compromise the reliability of the systems. This new scenario has raised crucial challenges regarding the reliability and trustworthiness of the AI models, as well as about the uncertainties in their response decisions, becoming even more crucial when applied in critical domains such as healthcare, chemical, electrical plants, etc. To contain these issues, in this paper, we present NeuralSentinel (NS), a tool able to validate the reliability and trustworthiness of AI models. This tool combines attack and defence strategies and explainability concepts to stress an AI model and help non-expert staff increase their confidence in this new system by understanding the model decisions. NS provide a simple and easy-to-use interface for helping humans in the loop dealing with all the needed information. This tool was deployed and used in a Hackathon event to evaluate the reliability of a skin cancer image detector. During the event, experts and non-experts attacked and defended the detector, learning which factors were the most important for model misclassification and which techniques were the most efficient. The event was also used to detect NS's limitations and gather feedback for further improvements.