Dataset bias: A case study for visual question answering. Issue 1 (18th October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Das, Anubrata; Anjum, Samreen; Gurari, Danna
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. Volume 56:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 58
• Page End: 67
• Publication Date: 2019-10-18
• Subjects: Bias in Machine Learning -- Visual Question Answering -- Assistive Technologies -- Ethics of Artificial Intelligence; Information science -- Congresses; Information technology -- Congresses; Information science; Information technology; Conference papers and proceedings; 020
• DOI: 10.1002/pra2.7
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2373-9231

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We examine the issue of bias in datasets designed to train visual question answering (VQA) algorithms. These datasets include a collection of natural language questions about images (aka ‐ visual questions). We consider three popular datasets that are captured by people with sight, people who are blind, and generated by computers. We first demonstrate that machine learning algorithms can be trained to recognize each dataset's bias, and so determine the source of a novel visual question. We then discuss potential risks and benefits of biased VQA datasets and corresponding machine learning algorithms that can identify the source of a visual question; e.g., whether it comes from a person with sight, a person who is blind, or bot (aka ‐ computer). Our ultimate aim is to inspire the development of more inclusive VQA systems.