AI engineering glossary · ML fundamentals
What is spurious correlation?
Spurious correlation: A pattern in the training data that predicts the label by coincidence or through an unrelated factor, not because of a real causal link. Models that rely on it break when conditions change.
Spurious correlation: an example
In a set of X-rays, a hospital tag in the corner correlates with disease because sicker patients went to that hospital.
Related terms
More ML fundamentals terms
- Stratified k-fold
- Structural risk minimisation
- Supervised learning
- Target leakage
- Temporal leakage
- Test set
- Time-series split
- Train-test contamination
Where you learn it
Spurious correlation is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.