SHADOWCAST: Controllable Graph Generation with Explainability

We introduce the problem of explaining graph generation, formulated as controlling the generative process to produce desired graphs with explainable structures. By directing this generative process, we can explain the observed outcomes. We propose SHADOWCAST, a controllable generative model capable of mimicking networks and directing the generation, as an approach to this novel problem. The proposed model is based on a conditional generative adversarial network for graph data. We design it with the capability to control the conditions using a simple and transparent Markov model. Comprehensive experiments on three real-world network datasets demonstrate our model's competitive performance in the graph generation task. Furthermore, we control SHADOWCAST to generate graphs of different structures to show its effective controllability and explainability. As the first work to pose the problem of explaining generated graphs by controlling the generation, SHADOWCAST paves the way for future research in this exciting area.