Fairness through Unawareness

Fairness through Unawareness is an approach in decision-making systems where the algorithm ignores sensitive attributes like race, gender, or age. The idea is that by not considering these factors, the outcomes will be fairer because the system isn't directly using potentially biased information. However, this method assumes that ignoring these attributes eliminates bias, even though other related factors might still lead to unfair outcomes. Essentially, it aims for fairness by not "seeing" the protected characteristics at all.