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.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。