Lookism: The overlooked bias in computer vision

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gulati, Aditya, Lepri, Bruno, Oliver, Nuria
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Gulati, Aditya
Lepri, Bruno
Oliver, Nuria
author_facet Gulati, Aditya
Lepri, Bruno
Oliver, Nuria
contents In recent years, there have been significant advancements in computer vision which have led to the widespread deployment of image recognition and generation systems in socially relevant applications, from hiring to security screening. However, the prevalence of biases within these systems has raised significant ethical and social concerns. The most extensively studied biases in this context are related to gender, race and age. Yet, other biases are equally pervasive and harmful, such as lookism, i.e., the preferential treatment of individuals based on their physical appearance. Lookism remains under-explored in computer vision but can have profound implications not only by perpetuating harmful societal stereotypes but also by undermining the fairness and inclusivity of AI technologies. Thus, this paper advocates for the systematic study of lookism as a critical bias in computer vision models. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, we identify three areas of intersection between lookism and computer vision. We illustrate them by means of examples and a user study. We call for an interdisciplinary approach to address lookism, urging researchers, developers, and policymakers to prioritize the development of equitable computer vision systems that respect and reflect the diversity of human appearances.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_11448
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Lookism: The overlooked bias in computer vision
Gulati, Aditya
Lepri, Bruno
Oliver, Nuria
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
Computers and Society
I.2.0; I.4.0; K.4.2
In recent years, there have been significant advancements in computer vision which have led to the widespread deployment of image recognition and generation systems in socially relevant applications, from hiring to security screening. However, the prevalence of biases within these systems has raised significant ethical and social concerns. The most extensively studied biases in this context are related to gender, race and age. Yet, other biases are equally pervasive and harmful, such as lookism, i.e., the preferential treatment of individuals based on their physical appearance. Lookism remains under-explored in computer vision but can have profound implications not only by perpetuating harmful societal stereotypes but also by undermining the fairness and inclusivity of AI technologies. Thus, this paper advocates for the systematic study of lookism as a critical bias in computer vision models. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, we identify three areas of intersection between lookism and computer vision. We illustrate them by means of examples and a user study. We call for an interdisciplinary approach to address lookism, urging researchers, developers, and policymakers to prioritize the development of equitable computer vision systems that respect and reflect the diversity of human appearances.
title Lookism: The overlooked bias in computer vision
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
Computers and Society
I.2.0; I.4.0; K.4.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.11448