Following related work in law and policy, two notions of disparity have come to shape the study of fairness in algorithmic decision-making. Algorithms exhibit treatment disparity if they formally treat members of protected subgroups differently; algorithms exhibit impact disparity when outcomes differ across subgroups,…
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48 results for “Disparate Impact”
Removing Disparate Impact of Differentially Private Stochastic Gradient Descent on Model Accuracycs.LG
New method reduces privacy impact on model accuracy for underrepresented groups.
problem Privacy mechanisms disproportionately affect underrepresented groups in machine learning models.
method Proposes DPSGD-F, a modified DPSGD that adjusts group contributions based on clipping bias.
result DPSGD-F removes disparate impact of differential privacy on model accuracy for protected groups.
Study shows label errors impact model disparity metrics, proposing mitigation methods.
problem Impact of label errors on model disparity metrics.
method Empirical study, characterizing label error effects; proposing estimation and relabeling methods.
result Label errors significantly affect model disparity metrics, particularly for minority groups.
Conformal prediction sets can lead to unfair outcomes.
problem Disparate impact in decision-making with conformal prediction sets.
method Experiments with human participants to demonstrate disparate impact and propose equalizing set sizes across groups.
result Providing prediction sets that satisfy Equalized Coverage increases disparate impact compared to marginal coverage.
We provide the asymptotic distribution of the major indexes used in the statistical literature to quantify disparate treatment in machine learning. We aim at promoting the use of confidence intervals when testing the so-called group disparate impact. We illustrate on some examples the importance of using confidence int…
What does it mean for an algorithm to be biased? In U.S. law, unintentional bias is encoded via disparate impact, which occurs when a selection process has widely different outcomes for different groups, even as it appears to be neutral. This legal determination hinges on a definition of a protected class (ethnicity, g…
The paper analyzes how deep neural networks handle noisy labels and finds disparate impacts.
problem Disparate impacts of noisy labels on instances with different representation frequencies.
method Quantifying harms, analyzing solutions, and comparing their impacts on different frequency instances.
result Existing solutions lead to disparate treatments, benefiting higher-frequency instances more.
In the context of machine learning, disparate impact refers to a form of systematic discrimination whereby the output distribution of a model depends on the value of a sensitive attribute (e.g., race or gender). In this paper, we propose an information-theoretic framework to analyze the disparate impact of a binary cla…
When the performance of a machine learning model varies over groups defined by sensitive attributes (e.g., gender or ethnicity), the performance disparity can be expressed in terms of the probability distributions of the input and output variables over each group. In this paper, we exploit this fact to reduce the dispa…
Develops a new criterion for subgroup fairness in algorithmic decision support.
problem Identifying fair recommendations in algorithms despite group-level differences.
method IJDI criterion and IJDI-Scan approach to detect and mitigate disparities.
result Identifies significant disparities in recommendations across subpopulations.
The paper examines how adversarial robustness affects accuracy disparity across different classes.
problem Understanding the impact of adversarial robustness on accuracy disparity across different classes.
method Linear classifiers under a Gaussian mixture model, decomposing the impact into inherent and imbalance effects.
result Adversarial robustness consistently degrades standard accuracy in balanced classes, but the class imbalance ratio plays a different role in accuracy disparity.
The increasing impact of algorithmic decisions on people's lives compels us to scrutinize their fairness and, in particular, the disparate impacts that ostensibly-color-blind algorithms can have on different groups. Examples include credit decisioning, hiring, advertising, criminal justice, personalized medicine, and t…
Paper explores fair classification with bounded disparity using finite datasets.
problem Ensuring fairness in binary classification with protected groups.
method Minimax optimal approach with fairness constraints and demographic disparity control.
result Proposes FairBayes-DDP+ method that achieves minimax lower bound on fairness-aware excess risk.
Develops methods for fair classification under linear disparity constraints.
problem Disparate impacts of machine learning algorithms on protected groups.
method Bayes-optimal fair classification methods via pre-, in-, and post-processing.
result Explicit forms of Bayes-optimal fair classifiers under linear disparity measures.
Proposes a method to quantify and decompose disparity in ML models, separating exempt and non-exempt components.
problem Quantifying disparity in ML models, especially when certain features are exempted due to their critical importance.
method Information-theoretic decomposition into exempt and non-exempt components, satisfying desirable properties.
result Proposes a measure of non-exempt disparity that satisfies all desirable properties, and shows impossibility results for observational measures.
Semi-supervised learning benefits the rich more than the poor, affecting fairness.
problem Disparate impact of semi-supervised learning on different sub-populations.
method Theoretical and empirical analysis of a broad family of SSL algorithms using pseudo-labels.
result Semi-supervised learning benefits the rich more than the poor, potentially violating fairness.
Optimal Pre-Processing to Achieve Fairness and Its Relationship with Total Variation Barycentercs.IT
Optimal pre-processing reduces disparate impact by minimizing total variation distance.
problem Achieving fairness in data outputs based on protected attributes.
method Using pre-processing to enforce fairness, minimizing total variation distance between pre-processed and original data distributions.
result The problem of fairness can be formulated as a linear program, efficiently solvable.
Privacy affects fairness in classification models, but not drastically.
problem The impact of differential privacy on fairness in classification models.
method Theoretical analysis proving Lipschitz continuity of fairness measures and a non-asymptotic bound on fairness levels.
result Privacy impacts fairness, but not significantly as the number of samples increases.
Recidivism prediction instruments provide decision makers with an assessment of the likelihood that a criminal defendant will reoffend at a future point in time. While such instruments are gaining increasing popularity across the country, their use is attracting tremendous controversy. Much of the controversy concerns …
Study finds racial bias in pulse oximeter readings has minimal impact on ICU ventilation rates.
problem Racial disparities in pulse oximeter readings affect clinical decisions in ICU settings.
method Causal inference using path-specific effects and doubly robust estimator.
result Minimal impact of racial discrepancies on invasive ventilation rates, but more pronounced on ventilation duration.
Automated data-driven decision making systems are increasingly being used to assist, or even replace humans in many settings. These systems function by learning from historical decisions, often taken by humans. In order to maximize the utility of these systems (or, classifiers), their training involves minimizing the e…
Develops algorithm to reduce real-world inequality.
problem Reduces inequality in real-world disparities.
method Impact remediation framework using social science insights and constrained optimization.
result Optimal intervention policies discovered to improve equity.
New causal analysis reconciles predictive and statistical fairness.
problem Mutual exclusivity of predictive and statistical fairness notions.
method Derive a new causal decomposition formula for fairness measures.
result Predictive and statistical fairness are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
Where machine-learned predictive risk scores inform high-stakes decisions, such as bail and sentencing in criminal justice, fairness has been a serious concern. Recent work has characterized the disparate impact that such risk scores can have when used for a binary classification task. This may not account, however, fo…
Recidivism prediction instruments (RPI's) provide decision makers with an assessment of the likelihood that a criminal defendant will reoffend at a future point in time. While such instruments are gaining increasing popularity across the country, their use is attracting tremendous controversy. Much of the controversy c…
Introduces causal fairness analysis to address unfairness in AI decisions.
problem Fairness issues in AI decision-making.
method Link observed disparities to underlying causal mechanisms.
result Develops Fairness Map and Fairness Cookbook.
New approach for fair graph clustering using semidefinite relaxation.
problem Ensuring equitable representation in network analysis.
method Semidefinite relaxation approach for NP-hard optimization problem.
result Optimal accuracy-fairness trade-off achieved.
The paper introduces return parity for fairness in MDPs, addressing delayed and adverse effects.
problem Fairness in MDPs for dynamic domains with delayed and adverse effects.
method Proposes return parity, decomposes return disparity, and develops algorithms for state visitation distributional alignment.
result The proposed algorithms can successfully close the disparity gap while maintaining policy performance.
The paper shows how demographic data can lead to biased predictions, proposing 'Affirmative Information' as a solution.
problem Bias in predictions due to demographic data.
method Characterization of error types and conditions leading to disparate impact.
result Demographic variables in data can lead to biased predictions, with higher average outcomes receiving higher false positive rates.
The paper provides CI for test unfairness of group-fairness-aware classifiers trained with online SGD.
problem Ensuring fairness in machine learning models trained with stochastic gradient descent.
method Developed an online multiplier bootstrap method to estimate CI for test unfairness of DI and DM-aware linear classifiers.
result Asymptotic Central Limit Theorem holds for CI estimation of DI and DM-aware models.
Neither Private Nor Fair: Impact of Data Imbalance on Utility and Fairness in Differential Privacycs.LG
The paper investigates how data imbalance affects fairness and accuracy in differentially private deep learning.
problem Impact of data imbalance on fairness and accuracy in differentially private deep learning.
method Study the effects of different levels of imbalance in the data on the accuracy and fairness of decisions made by a model trained with differential privacy.
result Small imbalances and loose privacy guarantees can cause disparate impacts on model accuracy and fairness.
There is growing interest in applying machine learning methods to Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Across different institutions, however, EMR quality can vary widely. This work investigated the impact of this disparity on the performance of three advanced machine learning algorithms: logistic regression, multilayer p…
Study evaluates when splitting classifiers can improve performance despite disparate treatment.
problem Impact of disparate treatment in classification models.
method Comparison of split classifiers and group-blind classifiers, quantifying performance improvement.
result Proves an equivalent expression for the benefit-of-splitting which can be efficiently computed.
In recent years, automated data-driven decision-making systems have enjoyed a tremendous success in a variety of fields (e.g., to make product recommendations, or to guide the production of entertainment). More recently, these algorithms are increasingly being used to assist socially sensitive decision-making (e.g., to…
Develops a framework for fair semi-supervised learning.
problem Balancing fairness and accuracy in semi-supervised learning.
method Formulates a framework as an optimization problem, incorporating classifier loss, label propagation loss, and fairness constraints.
result Achieves fair semi-supervised learning with better accuracy-fairness trade-off than fair supervised learning.
Ensembling DNNs improves minority group performance, leading to fairness.
problem Improving subgroup performances in DNN classifiers.
method Simple homogeneous ensembling of DNNs.
result Fairness naturally emerges from ensembling, improving minority group performance.
Mitigating Disparate Impact of Differentially Private Learning through Bounded Adaptive Clippingcs.LG
New method improves fairness in DP learning by preventing excessive gradient suppression.
problem Disparate impact on model predictions for minority groups in DP learning.
method Bounded adaptive clipping to prevent excessive gradient suppression.
result Improves worst-class accuracy by over 10 percentage points compared to existing methods.
Study examines impact of fairness penalties on clinical risk prediction models.
problem Widespread health disparities in machine learning-guided clinical decision-making.
method Empirical study across multiple databases, outcomes, and sensitive attributes.
result Penalizing fairness violations nearly universally degrades model performance and fairness metrics.
Recent work has explored how to train machine learning models which do not discriminate against any subgroup of the population as determined by sensitive attributes such as gender or race. To avoid disparate treatment, sensitive attributes should not be considered. On the other hand, in order to avoid disparate impact,…
This paper defines less discriminatory algorithms and explores their feasibility.
problem Creating algorithms that are less discriminatory while meeting business needs.
method Formal definition of less discriminatory algorithms, evaluation of feasibility, and search for alternatives.
result Formal definitions of less discriminatory algorithms face challenges due to lack of held-out data, necessitating a reliance on reasonableness standards.
This work builds a fair classification algorithm that abstains from making predictions.
problem Building a fair classification algorithm that incorporates human decision-making and avoids disparities.
method Formalizes the problem of risk minimization under fairness and abstention constraints, derives the optimal classifier, and proposes a post-processing algorithm using unlabeled data.
result The proposed algorithm achieves fairness and abstention guarantees independently of the initial classifier, provided sufficient unlabeled data is available.
Personalized interventions in social services, education, and healthcare leverage individual-level causal effect predictions in order to give the best treatment to each individual or to prioritize program interventions for the individuals most likely to benefit. While the sensitivity of these domains compels us to eval…
Algorithmic decision making process now affects many aspects of our lives. Standard tools for machine learning, such as classification and regression, are subject to the bias in data, and thus direct application of such off-the-shelf tools could lead to a specific group being unfairly discriminated. Removing sensitive …
Study shows how algorithmic prediction affects US housing market, reducing racial wealth disparities.
problem Impact of algorithmic prediction on housing market and racial wealth disparities.
method Natural experiment using digitization of housing records to study entry, allocation, and prices.
result Digitization leads to increased sale prices for minority-owned homes, reducing racial wealth disparities.
A survey of bias in Machine Learning through the prism of Statistical Parity for the Adult Data Setstat.ML
The paper examines bias in ML models using the Adult dataset.
problem Understanding and mitigating bias in machine learning models.
method Mathematical framework for fair learning, Disparate Impact index, and evaluation of bias reduction methods.
result Some common bias reduction methods are ineffective.
Machine Learning (ML) models trained on data from multiple demographic groups can inherit representation disparity (Hashimoto et al., 2018) that may exist in the data: the model may be less favorable to groups contributing less to the training process; this in turn can degrade population retention in these groups over …
Study shows how missing data from certain groups can unfairly bias risk models.
problem Data missingness without indicators of missingness can unfairly bias risk models.
method Developed an analytically tractable model of differential feature under-reporting and proposed new methods to mitigate bias.
result Under-reporting typically leads to increasing disparities in risk models.
Unified framework for Bayes-optimal classifiers under group fairness.
problem Mitigating disparate impacts from algorithmic predictions in high-stakes decision-making.
method Unified framework based on Neyman-Pearson argument for deriving Bayes-optimal classifiers under group fairness constraints.
result Proposes FairBayes method that directly controls disparity and achieves optimal fairness-accuracy tradeoff.