arXiv:2501.14710stat.MLcs.LG2025-01被引 6

通过因果预处理逼近公平世界,同时解决公平与精度的冲突。

Overcoming Fairness Trade-offs via Pre-processing: A Causal Perspective

  • 基于因果框架构建公平理想世界(FiND),使不同公平指标自然兼容。
  • 在该世界中,公平性与预测性能不再矛盾,且预处理方法可有效逼近此理想状态。
  • 适用于追求公平与高精度兼得的机器学习实践者,尤其适合数据偏见问题严重场景。

训练公平决策的机器学习模型面临两大挑战:一是强制公平会削弱预测性能(公平-精度权衡);二是不同公平度量之间存在不相容性(即不可能定理)。近期研究指出,观测数据中的偏差是根源所在,并表明当在无偏数据上评估时,公平性与预测性能本可一致。本文利用虚构且规范理想的(FiND)世界框架提供因果解释:在该理想世界中,受保护属性对目标变量无因果影响。理论证明:(i) 传统被认为不相容的公平度量在FiND世界中自然满足;(ii) 公平性与高预测性能一致。进一步提出使用因果预处理方法逼近FiND世界,并设计一种实用评估方法,用于衡量预处理对理想世界的逼近程度。模拟与实证研究均表明,该方法能有效逼近FiND世界,同时化解两类权衡。结果为从业者提供了实现公平与高精度并行的实际解决方案。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Training machine learning models for fair decisions faces two key challenges: The \emph{fairness-accuracy trade-off} results from enforcing fairness which weakens its predictive performance in contrast to an unconstrained model. The incompatibility of different fairness metrics poses another trade-off -- also known as the \emph{impossibility theorem}. Recent work identifies the bias within the observed data as a possible root cause and shows that fairness and predictive performance are in fact in accord when predictive performance is measured on unbiased data. We offer a causal explanation for these findings using the framework of the FiND (fictitious and normatively desired) world, a "fair" world, where protected attributes have no causal effects on the target variable. We show theoretically that (i) classical fairness metrics deemed to be incompatible are naturally satisfied in the FiND world, while (ii) fairness aligns with high predictive performance. We extend our analysis by suggesting how one can benefit from these theoretical insights in practice, using causal pre-processing methods that approximate the FiND world. Additionally, we propose a method for evaluating the approximation of the FiND world via pre-processing in practical use cases where we do not have access to the FiND world. In simulations and empirical studies, we demonstrate that these pre-processing methods are successful in approximating the FiND world and resolve both trade-offs. Our results provide actionable solutions for practitioners to achieve fairness and high predictive performance simultaneously.

公平性因果推理预处理机器学习

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