New method improves model robustness to biased data.
problem Learning unbiased models from biased datasets.
method Developed epsilon-SupInfoNCE and FairKL losses.
result Improved performance on biased datasets.
In this paper, we propose a new framework for mitigating biases in machine learning systems. The problem of the existing mitigation approaches is that they are model-oriented in the sense that they focus on tuning the training algorithms to produce fair results, while overlooking the fact that the training data can its…
Analyze SGD with biased gradients, improving convergence rates and accuracy.
problem Analyzing the convergence of SGD with biased gradients.
method Derive convergence results for smooth non-convex functions and quantify the impact of bias magnitude.
result Improved rates under the Polyak-Lojasiewicz condition and insights into how bias magnitude affects accuracy and convergence.
Many machine learning algorithms are trained and evaluated by splitting data from a single source into training and test sets. While such focus on in-distribution learning scenarios has led to interesting advancement, it has not been able to tell if models are relying on dataset biases as shortcuts for successful predi…
New oracles improve stochastic optimization with noisy or biased measurements.
problem Optimizing functions with noisy or biased measurements.
method Introduced biased gradient oracles for stochastic optimization, analyzed RSG and SGD algorithms with these oracles.
result Derived non-asymptotic bounds for convergence rates of algorithms with biased gradient oracles.
Model proposes neural network for continuous time dynamics with inductive biases.
problem Training neural networks for small datasets with nonlinear dynamics.
method Inductive biases on decay rates and frequencies using Koopman operator theory.
result Higher forecasting performance with single short training sequence.
New method learns collective variables using autoencoders for molecular simulations.
problem Learning low-dimensional slow degrees of freedom (collective variables) for molecular simulations.
method Iterative method involving CV learning with autoencoders and reweighting scheme.
result Achieves convergence of learned collective variables.
A new biased gradient descent method for conditional stochastic optimization.
problem Challenges in constructing unbiased gradient estimators for conditional stochastic optimization.
method Proposes a biased stochastic gradient descent (BSGD) algorithm and analyzes its sample complexities.
result Establishes sample complexities of BSGD for various objectives and shows that BSpiderBoost matches the lower bound complexity.
New method corrects skewed confidence for PbN classification.
problem Weakly supervised binary classification with biased negative data.
method Corrects skewed confidence in negative data to improve classifier.
result Reduces distortion in posterior probability for PbN classification.
Proposes a new fairness definition based on equity for machine learning classification.
problem Machine learning systems can perpetuate societal biases.
method Formalizes a new fairness definition based on equity, operationalizes it for classification, and evaluates its effectiveness.
result Demonstrates the effectiveness of the new fairness definition for equitable classification.
Neural networks with random hidden nodes have gained increasing interest from researchers and practical applications. This is due to their unique features such as very fast training and universal approximation property. In these networks the weights and biases of hidden nodes determining the nonlinear feature mapping a…
A number of optimization approaches have been proposed for optimizing nonconvex objectives (e.g. deep learning models), such as batch gradient descent, stochastic gradient descent and stochastic variance reduced gradient descent. Theory shows these optimization methods can converge by using an unbiased gradient estimat…
The effectiveness of machine learning algorithms depends on the quality and amount of data and the operationalization and interpretation by the human analyst. In humanitarian response, data is often lacking or overburdening, thus ambiguous, and the time-scarce, volatile, insecure environments of humanitarian activities…
The study addresses biases in evaluating molecular optimization methods and proposes methods to reduce these biases.
problem Biases in in silico evaluation of molecular optimization methods.
method Discussion and empirical investigation of bias reduction methods for predictor misspecification and sample reuse.
result Empirical investigation of bias reduction methods for predictor misspecification and sample reuse.
As machine learning black boxes are increasingly being deployed in domains such as healthcare and criminal justice, there is growing emphasis on building tools and techniques for explaining these black boxes in an interpretable manner. Such explanations are being leveraged by domain experts to diagnose systematic error…
AFLite filters dataset biases to improve model generalization.
problem Overfitting to dataset biases degrades model performance on out-of-distribution samples.
method AFLite adversarially filters dataset biases, reducing their impact on model performance.
result Filtered datasets yield better generalization to out-of-distribution tasks.
Multiple fairness constraints have been proposed in the literature, motivated by a range of concerns about how demographic groups might be treated unfairly by machine learning classifiers. In this work we consider a different motivation; learning from biased training data. We posit several ways in which training data m…
The paper analyzes time-dependent streaming data with biased gradient estimates and proposes improved stochastic optimization methods.
problem Stochastic optimization in a streaming setting with time-dependent and biased gradient estimates.
method Analysis of several first-order methods including SGD, mini-batch SGD, and time-varying mini-batch SGD, along with their Polyak-Ruppert averages.
result Time-varying mini-batch SGD methods can break long- and short-range dependence structures, and biased SGD methods can achieve comparable performance to their unbiased counterparts.
How do we learn from biased data? Historical datasets often reflect historical prejudices; sensitive or protected attributes may affect the observed treatments and outcomes. Classification algorithms tasked with predicting outcomes accurately from these datasets tend to replicate these biases. We advocate a causal mode…
New benchmark uncovers hidden biases in LLMs that refuse to answer certain queries.
problem Evaluating fairness in LLMs, especially in sensitive applications.
method Silenced Bias Benchmark (SBB) using activation steering to reduce model refusals during QA.
result Exposes hidden unfair preferences in LLMs' latent space, distinguishing direct responses from underlying fairness issues.
Paper proposes synthetic data generator to study and mitigate bias in machine learning.
problem Bias in machine learning data can lead to unfair outcomes.
method Developed a synthetic data generator to introduce and analyze various types of bias.
result Demonstrated how synthetic data can be used to study and mitigate bias in machine learning models.
LLMs show biases in investment analysis, leading to unreliable recommendations.
problem LLMs face conflicts between pre-trained knowledge and real-time market data, leading to biases in investment analysis.
method Experimental framework to investigate emergent behaviors in LLMs, analyzing sector, size, and momentum biases.
result Distinct, model-specific biases observed, including a tendency to prefer technology stocks, large-cap stocks, and contrarian strategies.
Recommender systems are used in variety of domains affecting people's lives. This has raised concerns about possible biases and discrimination that such systems might exacerbate. There are two primary kinds of biases inherent in recommender systems: observation bias and bias stemming from imbalanced data. Observation b…
Paper explores how knowledge distillation transfers inductive biases between models.
problem Transferring inductive biases between models for tasks with limited data.
method Knowledge distillation applied to models with different inductive biases (LSTMs vs. Transformers, CNNs vs. MLPs).
result Effect of inductive biases is transferred through knowledge distillation, impacting both performance and solution characteristics.
Proposes methods to learn from biased samples, ensuring robust decision rules.
problem Learning from biased samples can lead to poor performance in real-world applications.
method Modeling sampling bias, using distributionally robust optimization and deep learning.
result Proposes a method to minimize worst-case risk under various test distributions.
The Whittle likelihood is a widely used and computationally efficient pseudo-likelihood. However, it is known to produce biased parameter estimates for large classes of models. We propose a method for de-biasing Whittle estimates for second-order stationary stochastic processes. The de-biased Whittle likelihood can be …
New biased compression methods lead to faster convergence in distributed learning.
problem Improving convergence rates in distributed learning with biased compression.
method Study of three classes of biased compression operators in distributed learning.
result Biased compressors can lead to linear convergence rates in both single node and distributed settings.
This paper analyzes error bounds for biased SMC samplers in conditional sampling.
problem Analyzing error bounds for biased SMC samplers in conditional sampling.
method Develops a non-asymptotic error analysis for SMC samplers with biased mutation kernels.
result Derives the first non-asymptotic error bound for conditional sampling with score-based diffusion models.
Physen-Noise2Noise tackles defocus deblurring in low-light conditions with physics-guided self-supervised learning.
problem Defocus deblurring in low-light conditions with complex biased noise.
method Physics-guided self-supervised deblurring framework that leverages noisy multi-frame observations and a learnable noise bias parameter.
result Physen-Noise2Noise consistently outperforms state-of-the-art methods in defocus deblurring with complex biased noise.
A new strategy for identifying the best arm in Gaussian bandits with improved exploration.
problem Best-arm identification for Gaussian bandits with bounded means and unit variance.
method Exploration-Biased Sampling, a non-asymptotic approach with improved exploration behavior.
result Improved exploration behavior makes the strategy more stable and interpretable.
The insurance industry uses predictions based on customer characteristics, but this can lead to discrimination. We propose using Wasserstein barycenters to mitigate biases.
problem Discrimination in insurance predictions based on sensitive features like gender or race.
method Propose using Wasserstein barycenters instead of simple scaling to mitigate biases in insurance predictions.
result Demonstrates the effectiveness of Wasserstein barycenters in mitigating biases in insurance predictions.
New technique reduces language biases in large language models.
problem Gap between language and thought in large language models.
method Proposes Language-of-Thoughts (LoT) technique to adjust order and tokens.
result Significantly reduces language biases and improves reasoning tasks.
Method trains a debiased model from a biased one by focusing on samples that contradict the bias.
problem Training neural networks can lead to biased predictions due to spurious correlations.
method Train a pair of neural networks, intentionally biasing one and debiasing the other by focusing on contradictory samples.
result Our method significantly improves training against various types of biases, sometimes outperforming explicit supervision methods.
We consider adversarial examples for image classification in the black-box decision-based setting. Here, an attacker cannot access confidence scores, but only the final label. Most attacks for this scenario are either unreliable or inefficient. Focusing on the latter, we show that a specific class of attacks, Boundary …
State-of-the-art forecasting methods using Recurrent Neural Net- works (RNN) based on Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) cells have shown exceptional performance targeting short-horizon forecasts, e.g given a set of predictor features, forecast a target value for the next few time steps in the future. However, in many appli…
Machine learned models exhibit bias, often because the datasets used to train them are biased. This presents a serious problem for the deployment of such technology, as the resulting models might perform poorly on populations that are minorities within the training set and ultimately present higher risks to them. We pr…
The paper tackles bandit problems with biased offline data by using causal methods.
problem Improving bandit algorithms with biased offline data that includes confounding and selection biases.
method Formalizes the problem from a causal perspective, categorizes biases, and derives robust bounds for each arm.
result Causal bounds can guide the bandit agent to learn a nearly-optimal decision policy and consistently reduce asymptotic regret.
LLM evaluation suffers from systematic biases and lacks reliable positive judgments.
problem LLM evaluation suffers from systematic biases and lacks reliable positive judgments.
method Formulate LLM evaluation as a positive-unlabelled learning problem and propose a geometric auditing framework based on Partial Optimal Transport.
result Improved alignment with human preferences, increased robustness to presentation biases, and interpretable confidence estimates.
Survey on biases in image analysis for industrial safety.
problem Bias in machine learning algorithms affects industrial safety-critical applications.
method Survey and analysis of recent advances in bias detection and mitigation.
result Need for new methods to detect and mitigate biases in image analysis for safety-critical applications.
Gradient-based methods can be biased by distributional asymmetries in bivariate categorical data.
problem Gradient-based causal discovery methods can be biased by distributional asymmetries in bivariate categorical data.
method Identified and examined two distributional biases: Marginal Distribution Asymmetry and Marginal Distribution Shift Asymmetry. Employed two simple models to demonstrate and control these biases.
result Gradient-based methods can be biased by distributional asymmetries, and these biases can be controlled.
The paper addresses biased preferences in candidate selection, proposing a fair and utility-maximizing algorithm.
problem Selecting candidates for institutions with biased preferences and limited capacities.
method An algorithm that considers group fairness and true utility, proving near-optimal results under distributional assumptions.
result The proposed algorithm achieves near-optimal group fairness and near-maximal true utility, even in biased settings.
Study shows statistical biases can mislead transformer models, impairing their generalization.
problem Statistical biases in transformers affect their ability to generalize.
method Evaluated transformer models on synthetic algorithmic tasks with varying statistical biases.
result Statistical biases lead to overestimation of transformer models' generalization capabilities.
Machine learning models learn what we teach them to learn. Machine learning is at the heart of recommender systems. If a machine learning model is trained on biased data, the resulting recommender system may reflect the biases in its recommendations. Biases arise at different stages in a recommender system, from existi…
The estimation of advantage is crucial for a number of reinforcement learning algorithms, as it directly influences the choices of future paths. In this work, we propose a family of estimates based on the order statistics over the path ensemble, which allows one to flexibly drive the learning process, towards or agains…
Study identifies and measures biases in legal case data.
problem Addressing representation biases and sentencing disparities in legal case data.
method Utilizes two regression models: a baseline and a fair judge model.
result Quantifies biases across demographic groups in criminal data from Cook County (Illinois).
In many machine learning applications, there are multiple decision-makers involved, both automated and human. The interaction between these agents often goes unaddressed in algorithmic development. In this work, we explore a simple version of this interaction with a two-stage framework containing an automated model and…
Study incentivizes exploration in non-stationary MAB with compensation.
problem Incentivized exploration for non-stationary stochastic bandits with biased feedback.
method Proposed algorithms for abruptly-changing and continuously-changing non-stationary environments.
result Achieves sublinear regret and compensation over time.
Estimates social network structure from random walk subgraphs.
problem Recovering population structure from random walk subgraphs in stochastic block models.
method Maximum likelihood estimation, SAEM algorithm, de-biasing techniques.
result New de-biased estimator provides more accurate recovery of network structure.