arXiv:2509.18067cs.LG2025-09中稿 · https://openreview

针对排名前K项的公平性问题,提出新评估与优化方法。

Learning to Rank with Top-$K$ Fairness

  • 设计可微的前K项曝光差异度量,实现训练时公平性优化
  • 在真实数据集上显著降低前K项公平性差距,同时保持高相关性
  • 适合资源分配、灾害热点排序等只关注前列结果的场景

排名模型中的公平性至关重要,因为曝光差异可能对受保护群体造成不公。现有公平性排名系统多关注整个排序列表中各群体平均曝光的均衡,但无法充分应对现实需求。例如,在资源分配或灾情热点排序中,决策者通常只关注前K名结果,超出部分影响甚微。本文提出一种列表级学习排序框架,聚焦于训练阶段的前K项公平性问题。具体地,提出一种扩展的经典曝光差异度量,用于衡量前K项中的公平性差异;并训练一个兼顾相关性与前K项公平性的排序模型。由于直接选择前K项在大规模数据下计算成本高,我们将其转化为可微目标函数,并设计高效的随机优化算法,兼顾高精度与强公平性。大量实验表明,本方法优于现有主流方法。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Fairness in ranking models is crucial, as disparities in exposure can disproportionately affect protected groups. Most fairness-aware ranking systems focus on ensuring comparable average exposure for groups across the entire ranked list, which may not fully address real-world concerns. For example, when a ranking model is used for allocating resources among candidates or disaster hotspots, decision-makers often prioritize only the top-$K$ ranked items, while the ranking beyond top-$K$ becomes less relevant. In this paper, we propose a list-wise learning-to-rank framework that addresses the issues of inequalities in top-$K$ rankings at training time. Specifically, we propose a top-$K$ exposure disparity measure that extends the classic exposure disparity metric in a ranked list. We then learn a ranker to balance relevance and fairness in top-$K$ rankings. Since direct top-$K$ selection is computationally expensive for a large number of items, we transform the non-differentiable selection process into a differentiable objective function and develop efficient stochastic optimization algorithms to achieve both high accuracy and sufficient fairness. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method outperforms existing methods.

排序公平性top-K学习排序可微优化

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