What-is and How-to for Fairness in Machine Learning: A Survey, Reflection, and Perspective

Zeyu Tang, Jiji Zhang, Kun Zhang

Abstract: We review and reflect on fairness notions proposed in machine learning literature and make an attempt to draw connections to arguments in moral and political philosophy, especially theories of justice. We survey dynamic fairness inquiries and further consider the long-term impact induced by current prediction and decision. We present a flowchart that encompasses implicit assumptions and expected outcomes of different fairness inquiries on the data-generating process, the predicted outcome, and the induced impact, respectively. We demonstrate the importance of matching the mission (what kind of fairness to enforce) and the means (which appropriate fairness spectrum to analyze) to fulfill the intended purpose.