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Main Authors: Li, Siqi, Liu, Molei, Tian, Ziye, Hong, Chuan, Liu, Nan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.17411
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author Li, Siqi
Liu, Molei
Tian, Ziye
Hong, Chuan
Liu, Nan
author_facet Li, Siqi
Liu, Molei
Tian, Ziye
Hong, Chuan
Liu, Nan
contents Standard machine learning models optimized for average performance often fail on minority subgroups and lack robustness to distribution shifts. This challenge worsens when subgroups are latent and affected by complex interactions among continuous and discrete features. We introduce ROME (RObust Mixture Ensemble), a framework that learns latent group structure from data while optimizing for worst-group performance. ROME employs two approaches: an Expectation-Maximization algorithm for linear models and a neural Mixture-of-Experts for nonlinear settings. Through simulations and experiments on real-world datasets, we demonstrate that ROME significantly improves algorithmic fairness compared to standard methods while maintaining competitive average performance. Importantly, our method requires no predefined group labels, making it practical when sources of disparities are unknown or evolving.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_17411
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Robust Mixture Models for Algorithmic Fairness Under Latent Heterogeneity
Li, Siqi
Liu, Molei
Tian, Ziye
Hong, Chuan
Liu, Nan
Machine Learning
Standard machine learning models optimized for average performance often fail on minority subgroups and lack robustness to distribution shifts. This challenge worsens when subgroups are latent and affected by complex interactions among continuous and discrete features. We introduce ROME (RObust Mixture Ensemble), a framework that learns latent group structure from data while optimizing for worst-group performance. ROME employs two approaches: an Expectation-Maximization algorithm for linear models and a neural Mixture-of-Experts for nonlinear settings. Through simulations and experiments on real-world datasets, we demonstrate that ROME significantly improves algorithmic fairness compared to standard methods while maintaining competitive average performance. Importantly, our method requires no predefined group labels, making it practical when sources of disparities are unknown or evolving.
title Robust Mixture Models for Algorithmic Fairness Under Latent Heterogeneity
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.17411