On the interpretability of fuzzy knowledge base systems

In recent years, fuzzy rule-based systems have been attracting great interest in interpretable and eXplainable Artificial Intelligence as <i>ante-hoc</i> methods. These systems represent knowledge that humans can easily understand, but since they are not interpretable <i>per se</i>, they must remain simple and understandable, and the rule base must have a compactness property. This article presents an algorithm for minimizing the fuzzy rule base, leveraging rough set theory and a greedy strategy. Reducing fuzzy rules simplifies the rule base, facilitating the construction of interpretable inference systems such as decision support and recommendation systems. Validation and comparison of the proposed methodology using both real and benchmark data yield encouraging results.