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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: De Pasquale, Giulia, Dean, Sarah, Frasca, Paolo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01503
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author De Pasquale, Giulia
Dean, Sarah
Frasca, Paolo
author_facet De Pasquale, Giulia
Dean, Sarah
Frasca, Paolo
contents We propose a control-theoretic interpretation of recommender systems and use this perspective to analyze how fairness interventions shape long-term system behavior. Fairness concerns arise for both users and creators, ranging from opinion polarization and representation bias on the user side to popularity bias on the creator side. A central insight of our analysis is that fairness should not be viewed as a simple trade-off against utility. When optimized over time, it can in fact be beneficial for overall system performance. Realizing these gains, however, requires a clear understanding of the underlying dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_01503
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Recommender Systems as Control Systems
De Pasquale, Giulia
Dean, Sarah
Frasca, Paolo
Systems and Control
We propose a control-theoretic interpretation of recommender systems and use this perspective to analyze how fairness interventions shape long-term system behavior. Fairness concerns arise for both users and creators, ranging from opinion polarization and representation bias on the user side to popularity bias on the creator side. A central insight of our analysis is that fairness should not be viewed as a simple trade-off against utility. When optimized over time, it can in fact be beneficial for overall system performance. Realizing these gains, however, requires a clear understanding of the underlying dynamics.
title Recommender Systems as Control Systems
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01503