# Backdoor for Debias: Mitigating Model Bias with Backdoor Attack-based Artificial Bias

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.01504 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.01504/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 36 of its 70 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Mar 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Swin Transformer: Hierarchical Vision Transformer using Shifted Windows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14030/) (2021)
- [Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.02531/) (2015)
- [Deep Learning Face Attributes in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.7766/) (2014)
- [Equality of Opportunity in Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02413/) (2016)
- [Unsupervised Domain Adaptation by Backpropagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.7495/) (2014)
- [Inception-v4, Inception-ResNet and the Impact of Residual Connections on Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.07261/) (2016)
- [BadNets: Identifying Vulnerabilities in the Machine Learning Model Supply Chain](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.06733/) (2017)
- [Generalized Cross Entropy Loss for Training Deep Neural Networks with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.07836/) (2018)
- [Mitigating Unwanted Biases with Adversarial Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.07593/) (2018)
- [Fine-Pruning: Defending Against Backdooring Attacks on Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.12185/) (2018)
- [Just Train Twice: Improving Group Robustness without Training Group Information](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.09044/) (2021)
- [STRIP: A Defence Against Trojan Attacks on Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.06531/) (2019)
- [Age Progression/Regression by Conditional Adversarial Autoencoder](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.08423/) (2017)
- [Backdoor Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08745/) (2020)
- [Reflection Backdoor: A Natural Backdoor Attack on Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.02343/) (2020)
- [AI Fairness 360: An Extensible Toolkit for Detecting, Understanding, and Mitigating Unwanted Algorithmic Bias](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.01943/) (2018)
- [Fairness in Criminal Justice Risk Assessments: The State of the Art](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.09207/) (2017)
- [Label-Consistent Backdoor Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.02771/) (2019)
- [Towards Fairness in Visual Recognition: Effective Strategies for Bias Mitigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.11834/) (2019)
- [A new Backdoor Attack in CNNs by training set corruption without label poisoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.11237/) (2019)
- [Rethinking the Backdoor Attacks' Triggers: A Frequency Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.03413/) (2021)
- [Fair Attribute Classification through Latent Space De-biasing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.01469/) (2020)
- [Fair Mixup: Fairness via Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.06503/) (2021)
- [An Embarrassingly Simple Approach for Trojan Attack in Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.08131/) (2020)
- [Achieving Fairness through Adversarial Learning: an Application to Recidivism Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.00199/) (2018)
- [Fairness via Representation Neutralization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12674/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [XNN: Paradigm Shift in Mitigating Identity Leakage within Cloud-Enabled Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.04974/) (2024)
- [Stealthy and Robust Backdoor Attack against 3D Point Clouds through Additional Point Features](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.07511/) (2024)
- [Injecting Bias into Text Classification Models using Backdoor Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.18975/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the swift advancement of deep learning, state-of-the-art algorithms have been utilized in various social situations. Nonetheless, some algorithms have been discovered to exhibit biases and provide unequal results. The current debiasing methods face challenges such as poor utilization of data or intricate training requirements. In this work, we found that the backdoor attack can construct an artificial bias similar to the model bias derived in standard training. Considering the strong adjustability of backdoor triggers, we are motivated to mitigate the model bias by carefully designing reverse artificial bias created from backdoor attack. Based on this, we propose a backdoor debiasing framework based on knowledge distillation, which effectively reduces the model bias from original data and minimizes security risks from the backdoor attack. The proposed solution is validated on both image and structured datasets, showing promising results. This work advances the understanding of backdoor attacks and highlights its potential for beneficial applications. The code for the study can be found at urlhttps://anonymous.4open.science/r/DwB-BC07/.