Analysis of bias in GPT language models through fine-tuning with anti-vaccination speech

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Turi, Leandro Furlam
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BR; Mestrado em Informática; Centro Tecnológico; UFES; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática
• Palavras-chave em Português: GPT-2; Ajuste fino; Telegram; Ciência da Computação
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufes.br/handle/10/18304

We examined the effects of integrating data containing divergent information, particularly concerning anti-vaccination narratives, in training a GPT-2 language model by fine-tuning it using content from anti-vaccination groups and channels on Telegram. Our objective was to analyze the model’s ability to generate coherent and rationalized texts compared to a model pre-trained on OpenAI’s WebText dataset. The results demonstrate that fine-tuning a GPT-2 model with biased data leads the model to perpetuate these biases in its responses, albeit with a certain degree of rationalization, highlighting the importance of using reliable and high-quality data in the training of natural language processing models and underscoring the implications for information dissemination through these models. We also explored the impact of data poisoning by incorporating anti-vaccination messages combined with general group messages in different proportions, aiming to understand how exposure to biased data can influence text generation and the introduction of harmful biases. The experiments highlight the change in frequency and intensity of anti-vaccination content generated by the model and elucidate the broader implications for reliability and ethics in using language models in sensitive applications. This study provides social scientists with a tool to explore and understand the complexities and challenges associated with misinformation in public health through the use of language models, particularly in the context of vaccine misinformation.