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…
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.
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.
Analyzes biased random walks and corrupted intervals in adversarial settings.
problem Learning thresholds and intervals in adversarial conditions.
method Analyzes biased random walks and corrupted intervals under adversarial design.
result Analyzes the expected behavior of biased random walks and corrupted intervals.
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…
The study examines how social biases are reinforced in machine learning models used for credit scoring.
problem Reinforcement of societal biases in machine learning algorithms for credit scoring.
method Analysis of machine learning models predicting gender or ethnicity based on loan applications data.
result Machine learning models can reflect and reinforce social biases present in the data.
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.
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.
Many deep reinforcement learning algorithms contain inductive biases that sculpt the agent's objective and its interface to the environment. These inductive biases can take many forms, including domain knowledge and pretuned hyper-parameters. In general, there is a trade-off between generality and performance when algo…
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.
New method uses biased MD to create accurate MLIPs.
problem Creating a comprehensive data set for MLIPs.
method Bias MD by MLIP's energy uncertainty, using gradient-based uncertainties.
result Develops uniformly accurate MLIPs with lower computational cost.
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…
Neural networks with learned biases can approximate any function.
problem Whether neural networks with only learned biases can approximate any continuous function.
method Theoretical and numerical analysis of random weights and learned biases in neural networks.
result Feedforward and recurrent neural networks with random weights can approximate any continuous function and dynamical systems.
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.
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.
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.
The paper tackles sampling biases by ensuring minority groups are adequately represented in training data.
problem Sampling biases in training data lead to algorithmic biases in machine learning systems.
method The paper presents adaptive sampling methods to determine if it's possible to assemble a representative dataset from given data sources.
result The methods presented can determine with high confidence if a representative dataset can be assembled from given data sources.
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 analyzes implicit biases in neural networks using backward error analysis.
problem Analyzing implicit biases in multitask and continual learning settings.
method Backward error analysis to compute implicit training biases, deriving modified losses with three terms.
result The conflict term, measuring gradient alignment, is a new quantity in continual learning.
This paper analyzes SGD with biased gradients for deep learning models.
problem Analyzing SGD with biased gradients for deep learning models.
method Non-asymptotic analysis of SGD with adaptive steps for non-convex smooth functions.
result Adagrad, RMSProp, and AMSGRAD converge to critical points at a similar rate to unbiased case.
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.
Study shows how online personalization can lead to unfair models due to biased user responses.
problem Fairness issues in online personalization systems due to biased user responses.
method Formulated a regularization-based approach to mitigate biases in machine learning models.
result Demonstrated that online personalization can cause models to learn unfair behavior from biased user responses.
We study the convergence rate of stochastic optimization of exact (NP-hard) objectives, for which only biased estimates of the gradient are available. We motivate this problem in the context of learning the structure and parameters of Ising models. We first provide a convergence-rate analysis of deterministic errors fo…
Study evaluates bias mitigation methods in deep learning, finds they often exploit hidden biases.
problem Deep learning systems learn biases, affecting performance on minority groups.
method Improved evaluation protocol, new dataset, robustness across different tuning distributions.
result Bias mitigation methods often exploit hidden biases, are not robust to multiple forms of bias, and are sensitive to tuning set choice.
New approach relaxes inductive biases of physics-inspired NNs for better performance.
problem Challenges in applying physics-inspired NNs to real-world systems.
method Examined and relaxed inductive biases of Hamiltonian NNs, improving performance on non-conservative systems.
result Improved performance on practical, non-conservative systems by relaxing inductive biases.
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…
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.
Novel approach uses inductive biases for semiconductor etching.
problem Significant violations of physics in etching process predictions.
method Introduced deep learning model with inductive biases.
result Fits measurements faster and follows physical behavior.
Noise in imputed values corrects biases in machine learning models.
problem Systematic biases in imputed values affect downstream analyses.
method Introducing noise to imputed values to correct biases.
result Noise-corrected imputation methods produce unbiased estimates.
Study reveals biases in ImageNet models are not sufficient for generalization.
problem Understanding and improving generalization of image classification models.
method Large-scale study of 48 ImageNet models trained via various methods.
result Biases identified in ImageNet models do not fully explain generalization.
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.
This research explores inductive biases for deep learning to improve AI's higher-level cognition.
problem Current AI struggles with flexible out-of-distribution and systematic generalization.
method Examines and proposes new inductive biases for deep learning.
result Identifies specific inductive biases for higher-level sequential processing.
This work addresses encoding biases in neural networks by tailoring models with unsupervised losses.
problem Improving neural network representations and reducing the generalization gap.
method Inspired by transductive learning, the authors propose tailoring and meta-tailoring to optimize unsupervised losses during prediction time.
result Models trained with tailoring and meta-tailoring perform better on the task objective after adapting to unsupervised losses.
GCNs favor high-degree nodes, leading to biased performance; a new method mitigates this.
problem Degree-related biases in GCNs, especially for low-degree nodes.
method Developed a novel SL-DSGC that reduces model and data biases.
result SL-DSGC improves GCN accuracy significantly for low-degree nodes.
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.
Biased sampling and missing data complicates statistical problems ranging from causal inference to reinforcement learning. We often correct for biased sampling of summary statistics with matching methods and importance weighting. In this paper, we study nearest neighbor matching (NNM), which makes estimates of populati…
This study simulates biases in classifiers to assess fairness.
problem Mitigating biases in predictive models to ensure fairness.
method Agent-based model (ABM) to generate synthetic datasets with controlled biases, applied to offline and online learning approaches.
result Demonstrates how biases in data affect classifier outcomes and how mitigations impact feature usage.
Interview study reveals considerations for designing semi-automated bias detection tools.
problem Detecting and mitigating machine learning biases.
method Interview study with 11 machine learning practitioners.
result Four considerations identified for tool design.
Extract symbolic models from deep learning with inductive biases.
problem Interpreting and discovering physical principles from deep neural networks.
method Introduce strong inductive biases in GNNs, encourage sparse latent representations, apply symbolic regression.
result Extracted symbolic equations from neural networks, including known force laws and new analytic formulas.
Paper compares Bayesian and de-biased estimators for low-rank matrix completion.
problem Predict missing entries in partially observed matrices.
method Bayesian and de-biased estimators comparison.
result De-biased estimator performs similarly to Bayesian estimators but is more stable and can outperform in small samples.
Datasets often contain biases which unfairly disadvantage certain groups, and classifiers trained on such datasets can inherit these biases. In this paper, we provide a mathematical formulation of how this bias can arise. We do so by assuming the existence of underlying, unknown, and unbiased labels which are overwritt…
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.
The paper addresses bias in visual recognition models by reweighting observations.
problem Bias in deep neural networks trained on biased image databases.
method Reweighting observations based on known biasing mechanisms to form a nearly debiased estimator.
result The approach can remedy representativeness issues in visual recognition systems.
Active learning suffers from biased non-response, which this paper addresses.
problem Active learning's effectiveness is compromised by biased non-response in real-world contexts.
method Proposes a cost-based correction to the sampling strategy, UCB-EU, to mitigate the impact of biased non-response.
result UCB-EU successfully reduces the harm from labelling non-response in many settings.
This paper tackles confounding biases in data augmentation.
problem Mitigating spurious correlations and confounding variables in training data.
method Formal analysis and counterfactual data augmentation.
result Removing confounding biases leads to invariant features and better generalization.
While the interpretability of machine learning models is often equated with their mere syntactic comprehensibility, we think that interpretability goes beyond that, and that human interpretability should also be investigated from the point of view of cognitive science. The goal of this paper is to discuss to what exten…
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…