ENH: SHAP explainer does not accept local fig, ax handles

[adamwitmer]

Reopening this issue publicly from an internal issue at https://lisdi-git.lanl.gov/treddy/ldrd_virus_work/-/issues/89. Currently the legacy function summary_plot does not support input fig or ax handles, and an upstream PR should be opened to address this issue, which is related to the ongoing efforts at shap/shap#3411, as well as a related issue for adding titles to the summary_plot (shap/shap#1641)

[tylerjereddy]

The original internal issue was created on Nov 21, 2024.

Copying from that issue:

I opened shap/shap#3945 to start the process of supporting modern/scoped rng approaches in shap. I may ask you for occasional support with those upstream efforts because: 1) it supports your work; 2) it is good for career to help out with foundational ML packages; 3) I'm spread pretty thin on open source support already.

My expectation is that the team will clearly communicate which shap issues still remain, and really that you'll help me solve them proactively. That took about a month for a fairly simple patch, so look at your calendar and think about how long larger changes may take.

I think it should be reasonable to expect the team to meet me half way on this one and get it resolved soon--I'm sure the community would appreciate it as well.

[tylerjereddy]

Note that it may take a few weeks-months to get that merged upstream, which was the original purpose of asking for help ~2 years ago. I don't suggest delaying here given the indication to Mihee that you'd wrap things up in "1-2 weeks."

[tylerjereddy]

Given that this is like 2 years late, wouldn't it be helpful to provide updates, like that you've opened shap/shap#4971 and received an initial response, rather than having me go look for it?

Note that shap library has been inundated with "AI slop" PRs, so depending on random contributors to get work done on time is very risky, and not something that I'd trust. I suspect it will take even longer than usual to engage productively with upstream, so it would be good to see a concrete plan here.

[adamwitmer]

I have opened a draft PR (currently some tests are failing) at shap/shap#4980 to address this issue.

[adamwitmer]

I fixed the failing tests/mypy errors and removed draft status from shap/shap#4980