---
title: "Proxy scan"
description: "A test that trains a model to predict a protected attribute from a system's features; features that predict it strongly are flagged as proxies to justify or remove, and the result is recorded in the…"
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/proxy-scan
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# Proxy scan

A test that trains a model to predict a protected attribute from a system's features; features that predict it strongly are flagged as proxies to justify or remove, and the result is recorded in the data card. It finds proxy variables before an outcome metric shows their effect.

- Developed in: [ch. 16, Fairness and explainability in the stack](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/fairness-and-explainability#fairness-and-explainability-in-the-stack); [ch. 05, Pattern: Fairness Eval Suite](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/patterns/fairness-eval-suite)
- Chapters: [ch. 05, Patterns](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/patterns) · [ch. 16, Fairness & XAI](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/fairness-and-explainability)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-proxy-scan

## Sources

Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source.