The European Union (EU) thrust into data privacy as embodied in the recently-promulgated General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) will force a change in the way machine learning algorithms are made.

A TechRepublic article quotes liberally from an O’Reilly survey of 11,000 data specialists labelled “The State of Machine Learning Adoption in the Enterprise:”

“The report noted that GDPR pushes for “privacy by design,” meaning that data protection should be included when a system is being developed, rather than be added later. Similarly, more businesses are taking interest in privacy-preserving analytic methods. These methods, the report noted, include techniques like differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, federated learning, and more.

“According to the report, machine learning will need to keep pace as more companies start to develop a stronger stance on privacy. Companies, especially those with extensive dealings in the UK and EU, will need to consider all aspects of the GDPR regulations when building new machine learning algorithms or auditing those currently in use. The report also noted that as machine learning becomes more commonplace, data professionals are becoming more interested in transparency, interpretability, and explainability.”