FairFLRep: Fairness aware fault localization and repair of Deep Neural Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Openja, Moses, Arcaini, Paolo, Khomh, Foutse, Ishikawa, Fuyuki
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Openja, Moses
Arcaini, Paolo
Khomh, Foutse
Ishikawa, Fuyuki
author_facet Openja, Moses
Arcaini, Paolo
Khomh, Foutse
Ishikawa, Fuyuki
contents Deep neural networks (DNNs) are being utilized in various aspects of our daily lives, including high-stakes decision-making applications that impact individuals. However, these systems reflect and amplify bias from the data used during training and testing, potentially resulting in biased behavior and inaccurate decisions. For instance, having different misclassification rates between white and black sub-populations. However, effectively and efficiently identifying and correcting biased behavior in DNNs is a challenge. This paper introduces FairFLRep, an automated fairness-aware fault localization and repair technique that identifies and corrects potentially bias-inducing neurons in DNN classifiers. FairFLRep focuses on adjusting neuron weights associated with sensitive attributes, such as race or gender, that contribute to unfair decisions. By analyzing the input-output relationships within the network, FairFLRep corrects neurons responsible for disparities in predictive quality parity. We evaluate FairFLRep on four image classification datasets using two DNN classifiers, and four tabular datasets with a DNN model. The results show that FairFLRep consistently outperforms existing methods in improving fairness while preserving accuracy. An ablation study confirms the importance of considering fairness during both fault localization and repair stages. Our findings also show that FairFLRep is more efficient than the baseline approaches in repairing the network.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_08151
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle FairFLRep: Fairness aware fault localization and repair of Deep Neural Networks
Openja, Moses
Arcaini, Paolo
Khomh, Foutse
Ishikawa, Fuyuki
Machine Learning
Software Engineering
Deep neural networks (DNNs) are being utilized in various aspects of our daily lives, including high-stakes decision-making applications that impact individuals. However, these systems reflect and amplify bias from the data used during training and testing, potentially resulting in biased behavior and inaccurate decisions. For instance, having different misclassification rates between white and black sub-populations. However, effectively and efficiently identifying and correcting biased behavior in DNNs is a challenge. This paper introduces FairFLRep, an automated fairness-aware fault localization and repair technique that identifies and corrects potentially bias-inducing neurons in DNN classifiers. FairFLRep focuses on adjusting neuron weights associated with sensitive attributes, such as race or gender, that contribute to unfair decisions. By analyzing the input-output relationships within the network, FairFLRep corrects neurons responsible for disparities in predictive quality parity. We evaluate FairFLRep on four image classification datasets using two DNN classifiers, and four tabular datasets with a DNN model. The results show that FairFLRep consistently outperforms existing methods in improving fairness while preserving accuracy. An ablation study confirms the importance of considering fairness during both fault localization and repair stages. Our findings also show that FairFLRep is more efficient than the baseline approaches in repairing the network.
title FairFLRep: Fairness aware fault localization and repair of Deep Neural Networks
topic Machine Learning
Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08151