Fairness under Competition

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Gradwohl, Ronen, Shapira, Eilam, Tennenholtz, Moshe
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866915578289061888
author Gradwohl, Ronen
Shapira, Eilam
Tennenholtz, Moshe
author_facet Gradwohl, Ronen
Shapira, Eilam
Tennenholtz, Moshe
contents Algorithmic fairness has emerged as a central issue in ML, and it has become standard practice to adjust ML algorithms so that they will satisfy fairness requirements such as Equal Opportunity. In this paper we consider the effects of adopting such fair classifiers on the overall level of ecosystem fairness. Specifically, we introduce the study of fairness with competing firms, and demonstrate the failure of fair classifiers in yielding fair ecosystems. Our results quantify the loss of fairness in systems, under a variety of conditions, based on classifiers' correlation and the level of their data overlap. We show that even if competing classifiers are individually fair, the ecosystem's outcome may be unfair; and that adjusting biased algorithms to improve their individual fairness may lead to an overall decline in ecosystem fairness. In addition to these theoretical results, we also provide supporting experimental evidence. Together, our model and results provide a novel and essential call for action.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_16291
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fairness under Competition
Gradwohl, Ronen
Shapira, Eilam
Tennenholtz, Moshe
Machine Learning
Computer Science and Game Theory
Algorithmic fairness has emerged as a central issue in ML, and it has become standard practice to adjust ML algorithms so that they will satisfy fairness requirements such as Equal Opportunity. In this paper we consider the effects of adopting such fair classifiers on the overall level of ecosystem fairness. Specifically, we introduce the study of fairness with competing firms, and demonstrate the failure of fair classifiers in yielding fair ecosystems. Our results quantify the loss of fairness in systems, under a variety of conditions, based on classifiers' correlation and the level of their data overlap. We show that even if competing classifiers are individually fair, the ecosystem's outcome may be unfair; and that adjusting biased algorithms to improve their individual fairness may lead to an overall decline in ecosystem fairness. In addition to these theoretical results, we also provide supporting experimental evidence. Together, our model and results provide a novel and essential call for action.
title Fairness under Competition
topic Machine Learning
Computer Science and Game Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.16291