arXiv:2606.12615cs.LG2026-06

提出公平贝叶斯分类器,让每个小群体预测都一致且可信。

Towards Provably Fair Machine Learning: Bayesian Approaches For Consistent and Transparent Predictions

论文配图:Towards Provably Fair Machine Learning: Bayesian Approaches For Consistent and Transparent Predictions
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 基于贝叶斯框架,强制所有子群体预测一致且符合数据分布。
  • 在三个数据集上实现零一致性误差,同时准确率和多校准性更优。
  • 特别适合高风险场景,如司法、金融中的少数群体公平决策。

高风险领域部署的机器学习分类器在不同子群体间预测质量系统性差异显著。对于由多重特征交集定义的细粒度子群体,模型输出常与实际观测数据矛盾,即预测与证据相悖。正则化加剧此问题,通过将小群体合并为大群体提升整体性能,却对少数族裔造成更大影响。本文提出两个一致性要求:确定性(相同个体应得相同预测)与统计一致性(在显著性水平α下,无法拒绝子群体预测来自其贝叶斯最优目标分布的假设)。据此推导出公平贝叶斯分类器,同时在每个群体和子群体中强制满足这两项要求,并在无法达成一致预测时主动拒绝输出。在Adult、COMPAS和Bank Marketing三个基准数据集上,标准分类器对大量子群体产生统计不一致预测。而本方法通过构造实现零一致性误差,同时在所有测试数据集上超越基线准确率与多校准性。统计一致性为预测质量提供了原则性基础,尤其对少数群体聚集的小样本子群体至关重要,因频率学推断在此类情况最不可靠。通过在数据支持的最细粒度上强制贝叶斯一致性,该分类器证明了可实践的全面子群体公平与有依据的拒答是可行的。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

ML classifiers deployed in high-stakes domains produce predictions whose quality varies systematically across subgroups. For granular subgroups defined by intersections of multiple features, predictions are often inconsistent with the observed data: the model's outputs contradict the evidence available for that subgroup. This problem is exacerbated by regularisation, which improves aggregate performance by collapsing small subgroups into larger groups, disproportionately affecting demographic minorities. We define two requirements for consistent prediction: determinism (identical individuals receive identical predictions) and statistical consistency (we cannot reject, at significance level alpha, the hypothesis that the predictions for a subgroup were drawn from the Bayesian optimal target distribution inferred for that subgroup). From these requirements we derive the Fair Bayesian classifier, which enforces both across every group and subgroup simultaneously and abstains whenever no consistent deterministic prediction is possible. On three benchmark datasets (Adult, COMPAS, and Bank Marketing), standard classifiers produce statistically inconsistent predictions for a substantial proportion of subgroups. Our classifier achieves zero consistency error by construction while exceeding baseline accuracy and multicalibration on every dataset tested. Statistical consistency provides a principled foundation for prediction quality with direct implications for algorithmic fairness. Minority demographics are disproportionately concentrated in small subgroups, precisely where frequentist inference is least reliable; addressing this inference problem is therefore a necessary step toward fair ML. By enforcing Bayesian consistency at the finest resolution the data supports, the our classifier demonstrates that exhaustive subgroup fairness with principled abstention is achievable in practice.

公平学习贝叶斯方法子群体公平

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