Trying to create Datalab object with label set to a dtype of 'category' but getting 'NotImplementedError'

[mturk24]

When trying to run the following code:

lab = Datalab(data=full_df, label_name="noisy_letter_grade", task="classification")
lab.find_issues(features=features_df.to_numpy(), issue_types={"near_duplicate": {}, "non_iid": {}})
lab.report(show_summary_score=True, show_all_issues=True)

in which the noisy_letter_grade column has a dtype of category rather than object, I get the following error message printed below in the stack trace section.

I am wondering if we should support category dtypes for label columns passed into Datalab? Or can we change the error message for a user to change their label dtype?

Stack trace

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NotImplementedError                       Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[99], line 1
----> 1 lab = Datalab(data=full_df, label_name="noisy_letter_grade", task="classification")
      2 lab.find_issues(features=full_df.drop("noisy_letter_grade", axis=1).to_numpy(), issue_types={"near_duplicate": {}, "non_iid": {}})
      3 lab.report(show_summary_score=True, show_all_issues=True)

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/cleanlab/datalab/datalab.py:123](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/cleanlab/datalab/datalab.py#line=122), in Datalab.__init__(self, data, task, label_name, image_key, verbosity)
    112 def __init__(
    113     self,
    114     data: "DatasetLike",
   (...)
    120     # Assume continuous values of labels for regression task
    121     # Map labels to integers for classification task
    122     self.task = Task.from_str(task)
--> 123     self._data = Data(data, self.task, label_name)
    124     self.data = self._data._data
    125     self._labels = self._data.labels

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/cleanlab/datalab/internal/data.py:155](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/cleanlab/datalab/internal/data.py#line=154), in Data.__init__(self, data, task, label_name)
    148 def __init__(
    149     self,
    150     data: "DatasetLike",
    151     task: Task,
    152     label_name: Optional[str] = None,
    153 ) -> None:
    154     self._validate_data(data)
--> 155     self._data = self._load_data(data)
    156     self._data_hash = hash(self._data)
    157     self.labels: Label

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/cleanlab/datalab/internal/data.py:174](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/cleanlab/datalab/internal/data.py#line=173), in Data._load_data(self, data)
    172 if not isinstance(data, tuple(dataset_factory_map.keys())):
    173     raise DataFormatError(data)
--> 174 return dataset_factory_map[type(data)](data)

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py:869](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py#line=868), in Dataset.from_pandas(cls, df, features, info, split, preserve_index)
    865 if features is not None:
    866     # more expensive cast than InMemoryTable.from_pandas(..., schema=features.arrow_schema)
    867     # needed to support the str to Audio conversion for instance
    868     table = table.cast(features.arrow_schema)
--> 869 return cls(table, info=info, split=split)

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py:694](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py#line=693), in Dataset.__init__(self, arrow_table, info, split, indices_table, fingerprint)
    691         self._fingerprint = metadata["fingerprint"]
    693 # Infer features if None
--> 694 inferred_features = Features.from_arrow_schema(arrow_table.schema)
    695 if self.info.features is None:
    696     self.info.features = inferred_features

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/features/features.py:1679](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/features/features.py#line=1678), in Features.from_arrow_schema(cls, pa_schema)
   1677         metadata_features = Features.from_dict(metadata["info"]["features"])
   1678 metadata_features_schema = metadata_features.arrow_schema
-> 1679 obj = {
   1680     field.name: (
   1681         metadata_features[field.name]
   1682         if field.name in metadata_features and metadata_features_schema.field(field.name) == field
   1683         else generate_from_arrow_type(field.type)
   1684     )
   1685     for field in pa_schema
   1686 }
   1687 return cls(**obj)

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/features/features.py:1683](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/features/features.py#line=1682), in <dictcomp>(.0)
   1677         metadata_features = Features.from_dict(metadata["info"]["features"])
   1678 metadata_features_schema = metadata_features.arrow_schema
   1679 obj = {
   1680     field.name: (
   1681         metadata_features[field.name]
   1682         if field.name in metadata_features and metadata_features_schema.field(field.name) == field
-> 1683         else generate_from_arrow_type(field.type)
   1684     )
   1685     for field in pa_schema
   1686 }
   1687 return cls(**obj)

File [~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/features/features.py:1395](http://localhost:8950/lab/tree/docs/source/tutorials/~/mturk-work/mturk-env/lib/python3.11/site-packages/datasets/features/features.py#line=1394), in generate_from_arrow_type(pa_type)
   1393     return array_feature(shape=pa_type.shape, dtype=pa_type.value_type)
   1394 elif isinstance(pa_type, pa.DictionaryType):
-> 1395     raise NotImplementedError  # TODO(thom) this will need access to the dictionary as well (for labels). I.e. to the py_table
   1396 elif isinstance(pa_type, pa.DataType):
   1397     return Value(dtype=_arrow_to_datasets_dtype(pa_type))

NotImplementedError:

Additional information

Cleanlab version being used is 2.6.1