Bias in Text Embedding Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Rakivnenko, Vasyl, Maslej, Nestor, Cervi, Jessica, Zhukov, Volodymyr
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Rakivnenko, Vasyl
Maslej, Nestor
Cervi, Jessica
Zhukov, Volodymyr
author_facet Rakivnenko, Vasyl
Maslej, Nestor
Cervi, Jessica
Zhukov, Volodymyr
contents Text embedding is becoming an increasingly popular AI methodology, especially among businesses, yet the potential of text embedding models to be biased is not well understood. This paper examines the degree to which a selection of popular text embedding models are biased, particularly along gendered dimensions. More specifically, this paper studies the degree to which these models associate a list of given professions with gendered terms. The analysis reveals that text embedding models are prone to gendered biases but in varying ways. Although there are certain inter-model commonalities, for instance, greater association of professions like nurse, homemaker, and socialite with female identifiers, and greater association of professions like CEO, manager, and boss with male identifiers, not all models make the same gendered associations for each occupation. Furthermore, the magnitude and directionality of bias can also vary on a model-by-model basis and depend on the particular words models are prompted with. This paper demonstrates that gender bias afflicts text embedding models and suggests that businesses using this technology need to be mindful of the specific dimensions of this problem.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_12138
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bias in Text Embedding Models
Rakivnenko, Vasyl
Maslej, Nestor
Cervi, Jessica
Zhukov, Volodymyr
Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
Text embedding is becoming an increasingly popular AI methodology, especially among businesses, yet the potential of text embedding models to be biased is not well understood. This paper examines the degree to which a selection of popular text embedding models are biased, particularly along gendered dimensions. More specifically, this paper studies the degree to which these models associate a list of given professions with gendered terms. The analysis reveals that text embedding models are prone to gendered biases but in varying ways. Although there are certain inter-model commonalities, for instance, greater association of professions like nurse, homemaker, and socialite with female identifiers, and greater association of professions like CEO, manager, and boss with male identifiers, not all models make the same gendered associations for each occupation. Furthermore, the magnitude and directionality of bias can also vary on a model-by-model basis and depend on the particular words models are prompted with. This paper demonstrates that gender bias afflicts text embedding models and suggests that businesses using this technology need to be mindful of the specific dimensions of this problem.
title Bias in Text Embedding Models
topic Artificial Intelligence
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.12138