What is a disparate treatment?
Factoring subjects' sensitive attributes into an algorithmic decision-making process such that different subgroups of people are treated differently.
disparate treatment explained in plain English
Factoring subjects' sensitive attributes into an algorithmic decision-making process such that different subgroups of people are treated differently. For example, consider an algorithm that determines Lilliputians' eligibility for a miniature-home loan based on the data they provide in their loan application. If the algorithm uses a Lilliputian's affiliation as Big-Endian or Little-Endian as an input, it is enacting disparate treatment along that dimension. Contrast with disparate impact, which focuses on disparities in the societal impacts of algorithmic decisions on subgroups, irrespective of whether those subgroups are inputs to the model.
Example
Practitioners refer to disparate treatment when building, training, or evaluating machine learning systems. It appears in research papers, product documentation, and technical discussions about AI capabilities and limitations.
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