The Limits of Value Transparency in Machine Learning.

Transparency has been proposed as a way of handling value-ladenness in machine learning (ML). This article highlights limits to this strategy. I distinguish three kinds of transparency: epistemic transparency, retrospective value transparency, and prospective value transparency. This corresponds to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of Science Vol. 89; no. 5; pp. 1054 - 1065
Main Author: Nyrup, Rune
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press Dec2022
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:Transparency has been proposed as a way of handling value-ladenness in machine learning (ML). This article highlights limits to this strategy. I distinguish three kinds of transparency: epistemic transparency, retrospective value transparency, and prospective value transparency. This corresponds to different approaches to transparency in ML, including so-called explainable artificial intelligence and governance based on disclosing information about the design process. I discuss three sources of value-ladenness in ML—problem formulation, inductive risk, and specification gaming—and argue that retrospective value transparency is only well-suited for dealing with the first, while the third raises serious challenges even for prospective value transparency.