The Representational Status of Deep Learning Models

This paper aims to clarify the representational status of Deep Learning Models (DLMs). While commonly referred to as 'representations', what this entails is ambiguous due to a conflation of functional and relational conceptions of representation. This paper argues that while DLMs represent their targets in a relational sense, they are best understood as highly idealized models. This result has immediate implications for explainable AI (XAI) and directs philosophical attention toward examining the idealized nature of DLM representations and their role in future scientific investigation.