Fujitsu and Linux Foundation launch automated ML and AI fairness technologies

The two projects will offer users access to software that automatically generates code for new machine learning models, as well as a technology that addresses latent biases in training data.

Figure 1. AutoML technology for automated code generation under development in the SapientML project

Figure 2: Example of often undetected intersectional biases that can be discovered and reduced by AI fairness technology

The Linux Foundation approved the incubation of two new projects, "SapientML" and "Intersectional Fairness" on August 24 to encourage developers worldwide to further experiment and innovate with AI and machine learning technologies, with plans to host future activities like hackathons to engage and build a community to promote open source AI.

With these projects, Fujitsu and the Linux Foundation aim to further democratise AI to realise a world in which developers everywhere can easily and securely use the latest technologies on open platforms to create new applications and find innovative solutions to challenges facing business and society.

Vivek Mahajan, SEVP, CTO, CPO, Fujitsu Limited, comments: "Offering AI technologies as OSS to developers worldwide opens up new opportunities for innovation across various industries by lowering the barrier of entry. We are excited to work together with Linux Foundation to contribute to the further advancement and spread of AI by launching Fujitsu's AI technologies for the Linux Foundation's open source projects 'SapientML' and 'Intersectional Fairness.'"

Jim Zemlin, Executive Director, The Linux Foundation, comments: "We anticipate that offering Fujitsu's automated machine learning and AI fairness technologies as OSS will greatly contribute to the advancement and diffusion of AI. The Linux Foundation welcomes these two projects and looks forward to building the future of AI together."

Fujitsu demonstrates commitment to open innovation

Fujitsu holds the largest number of AI-related inventions in Japan, with 970 patents from 2014 to October 2022, and in April 2023, launched "Fujitsu Kozuchi (code name) - Fujitsu AI Platform". Kozuchi enables users to rapidly and securely test advanced AI technologies and has offered a wide range of customers and partners access to some of Fujitsu's most advanced AI technologies.

AI represents one of the most rapidly developing technologies of our time, contributing to the solution of various societal and industrial issues. However, this ongoing development requires advanced expertise in the development and operation of AI technologies, and concerns about the fairness of AI technology keep increasing. To enable further spread and enhancement of AI, a platform to openly share AI technologies with engineers worldwide represents an important prerequisite.

As a non-profit technology consortium, the Linux Foundation approves approximately a dozen selected technologies as OSS projects annually for the development of open technologies. Fujitsu is providing automated machine learning and AI fairness technologies as OSS via Linux Foundation, enabling developers around the world to access and widely use Fujitsu's technology at the source code level to accelerate technological advancement and the development of new applications, while also addressing concerns around fairness and transparency that remain a critical priority in the field of AI ethics.

About the two AI projects

SapientML focuses on developing an Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) technology that produces code for rapidly building machine learning models using tabular data. It empowers data scientists to create precise and interpretable AI models swiftly. With this innovation, data scientists can instantly generate highly accurate models and fine-tune them for improved performance using the generated code, streamlining the model development process.

The Intersectional Fairness project addresses the issue of fairness in AI by targeting the detection and mitigation of biases that may not be readily apparent. It focuses on combatting discrimination against particular groups resulting from biased training data. The project's primary goal is to create an AI fairness technology capable of identifying and mitigating "intersectional biases," which arise when multiple attributes, such as age, gender, and nationality, interact in complex ways, often overlooked in AI systems.

For example (Figure 2), pass rate of young women in an exam is only 33.3%, a significantly lower rate than the rest of the group; this bias, pass rate difference, becomes apparent only when the combination of attributes for investigating the rate　is considered; AI fairness technology aims to mitigate such biases while maintaining sufficient accuracy by using a method that adjusts the bias for each group and determines the acceptance line for readjusting the bias from the perspective of the whole.

Fujitsu has been further providing its technologies for automated machine learning and AI fairness as "Fujitsu AutoML" and "Fujitsu AI Ethics for Fairness," together with various AI technologies and GUIs via the "Fujitsu Kozuchi (code name) - Fujitsu AI Platform." Moving forward, Fujitsu will offer technology updates for each project on its AI platform.