TowerDebias: A Novel Debiasing Method based on the Tower Property

Decision-making processes have increasingly come to rely on sophisticated machine learning tools, raising concerns about the fairness of their predictions with respect to any sensitive groups. The widespread use of commercial black-box machine learning models necessitates careful consideration of their legal and ethical implications on consumers. In situations where users have access to these "black-box" models, a key question emerges: how can we mitigate or eliminate the influence of sensitive attributes, such as race or gender? We propose towerDebias (tDB), a novel approach designed to reduce the influence of sensitive variables in predictions made by black-box models. Using the Tower Property from probability theory, tDB aims to improve prediction fairness during the post-processing stage in a manner amenable to the Fairness-Utility Tradeoff. This method is highly flexible, requiring no prior knowledge of the original model's internal structure, and can be extended to a range of different applications. We provide a formal improvement theorem for tDB and demonstrate its effectiveness in both regression and classification tasks, underscoring its impact on the fairness-utility tradeoff.

dsld: A Socially Relevant Tool for Teaching Statistics

The growing power of data science can play a crucial role in addressing social discrimination, necessitating nuanced understanding and effective mitigation strategies of potential biases. Data Science Looks At Discrimination (dsld) is an R and Python package designed to provide users with a comprehensive toolkit of statistical and graphical methods for assessing possible discrimination related to protected groups, such as race, gender, and age. Our software offers techniques for discrimination analysis by identifying and mitigating confounding variables, along with methods for reducing bias in predictive models. In educational settings, dsld offers instructors powerful tools to teach important statistical principles through motivating real world examples of discrimination analysis. The inclusion of an 80-page Quarto book further supports users, from statistics educators to legal professionals, in effectively applying these analytical tools to real world scenarios.