Stakeholders ask which features drive your model. Why is feature importance misleading, and what do you use instead?

The built-in importance scores from XGBoost can rank a random ID above a vital feature, and stakeholders will make decisions on that bar chart. Here is why default importance lies and what a careful answer reports instead.

Updated Aug 2026 · Grounded in real Applied AI Engineer interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar.