Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Recorded as part of the CFvW Colloquium on April 30, 2025
A Proof-Theoretic Approach to Bias* - Leonardo Ceragioli (University of Milan, LUCI Lab)
(*joint work with Giuseppe Primiero)
Abstract:
Although widely applied, ML systems are at most as reliable as the data they are trained with. Among other reasons, biases may arise because causal relations in the data are ignored. In fact, Simpson’s paradox entails that to distinguish pure correlations from causal relations, we need knowledge of the world that is not reducible to pure statistical data.
In my talk, I will present a proof system with different operators for fairness that deal with biases. First, I will consider individual fairness, which ignores causal relations between attributes, and interpret intersectionality as connected with the admissibility of Weakening. Then I will address counterfactual fairness, extending our calculus with an accessibility relation based on the causal relation, and check this extension for admissibility of Weakening.
Explore our colloquium schedule on our website: uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/centers-and-institutes/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-center/news-and-events/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-colloquium
Recorded as part of the CFvW Colloquium on April 30, 2025
A Proof-Theoretic Approach to Bias* - Leonardo Ceragioli (University of Milan, LUCI Lab)
(*joint work with Giuseppe Primiero)
Abstract:
Although widely applied, ML systems are at most as reliable as the data they are trained with. Among other reasons, biases may arise because causal relations in the data are ignored. In fact, Simpson’s paradox entails that to distinguish pure correlations from causal relations, we need knowledge of the world that is not reducible to pure statistical data.
In my talk, I will present a proof system with different operators for fairness that deal with biases. First, I will consider individual fairness, which ignores causal relations between attributes, and interpret intersectionality as connected with the admissibility of Weakening. Then I will address counterfactual fairness, extending our calculus with an accessibility relation based on the causal relation, and check this extension for admissibility of Weakening.
Explore our colloquium schedule on our website: uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/centers-and-institutes/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-center/news-and-events/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-colloquium
