Contrastive fairness in machine learning

Was it fair that Harry was hired but not Barry? Was it fair that Pam was fired instead of Sam? How can one ensure fairness when an intelligent algorithm takes these decisions instead of a human? How can one ensure that the decisions were taken based on merit and not on protected attributes like race...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chakraborti, T, Patra, A, Noble, JA
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2020
_version_ 1797051236525015040
author Chakraborti, T
Patra, A
Noble, JA
author_facet Chakraborti, T
Patra, A
Noble, JA
author_sort Chakraborti, T
collection OXFORD
description Was it fair that Harry was hired but not Barry? Was it fair that Pam was fired instead of Sam? How can one ensure fairness when an intelligent algorithm takes these decisions instead of a human? How can one ensure that the decisions were taken based on merit and not on protected attributes like race or sex? These are the questions that must be answered now that many decisions in real life can be made through machine learning. However, research in fairness of algorithms has focused on the counterfactual questions “what if?” or “why?”, whereas in real life most subjective questions of consequence are contrastive: “why this but not that?”. We introduce concepts and mathematical tools using causal inference to address contrastive fairness in algorithmic decision-making with illustrative examples.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T18:17:05Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:04f8e7ab-263b-4908-9eaf-ab5bf42cd906
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T18:17:05Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:04f8e7ab-263b-4908-9eaf-ab5bf42cd9062022-03-26T08:54:43ZContrastive fairness in machine learningJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:04f8e7ab-263b-4908-9eaf-ab5bf42cd906EnglishSymplectic ElementsInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers2020Chakraborti, TPatra, ANoble, JAWas it fair that Harry was hired but not Barry? Was it fair that Pam was fired instead of Sam? How can one ensure fairness when an intelligent algorithm takes these decisions instead of a human? How can one ensure that the decisions were taken based on merit and not on protected attributes like race or sex? These are the questions that must be answered now that many decisions in real life can be made through machine learning. However, research in fairness of algorithms has focused on the counterfactual questions “what if?” or “why?”, whereas in real life most subjective questions of consequence are contrastive: “why this but not that?”. We introduce concepts and mathematical tools using causal inference to address contrastive fairness in algorithmic decision-making with illustrative examples.
spellingShingle Chakraborti, T
Patra, A
Noble, JA
Contrastive fairness in machine learning
title Contrastive fairness in machine learning
title_full Contrastive fairness in machine learning
title_fullStr Contrastive fairness in machine learning
title_full_unstemmed Contrastive fairness in machine learning
title_short Contrastive fairness in machine learning
title_sort contrastive fairness in machine learning
work_keys_str_mv AT chakrabortit contrastivefairnessinmachinelearning
AT patraa contrastivefairnessinmachinelearning
AT nobleja contrastivefairnessinmachinelearning