SBTLF: A New Approach to Secure Collaborative Machine Learning Using Blockchain and Token-Based Incentivization

One of the primary concerns with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom is the privacy of the data used to train AI. With nations now keen on building more tailored AI and large language models (LLM), how we use and protect data is becoming paramount.

As nations strive to develop more sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM), the privacy of the data used to train these models becomes a primary concern. To address this issue, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur have proposed a novel approach that leverages blockchain technology to facilitate secure data sharing for AI training.

Their research focuses on enhancing Federated Learning (FL), a type of machine-learning model, by integrating it with blockchain technology and other privacy measures. This combined approach aims to make machine learning models more secure and equitable for all participants.

At its core, the Federated Learning model is designed to be trained across multiple devices without requiring the transfer of raw data. Similar to how a large project can be divided into smaller tasks to be worked on by individual personal computers, FL enables individual devices (such as smartphones and PCs) to contribute to the training of an AI model without having to share the private data they hold.

In FL, each individual device or ‘node’ trains a standard model on its local data and shares only the results—not the actual data—with a central server. To ensure privacy, the data is typically encoded using Local Differential Privacy (LDP). This well-established privacy model adds a layer of 'noise' to the data before it is shared, preserving the privacy of individual information.

In the present study, the researchers introduce a new approach called SBTLF (Secure Blockchain-Based Tokenized LDP Federated Learning). They realized that by combining blockchain technology with federated learning and adding a system of tokens and Local Differential Privacy, they could train machine learning models more securely and efficiently.

Blockchain technology, which is better known for its association with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, enables users to share data stored as tokens in a ledger in a decentralized and secure manner. For this purpose, the researchers employed HyperLedger Fabric, a specialized blockchain framework designed to securely manage data and transactions among different parties in a federated learning environment. It serves as a distributed ledger that records all the local nodes' updates and helps ensure the transparency of the entire process. This adds a layer of security by preventing any single point of failure, which could occur if only one system were to control the entire process.

Furthermore, the researchers propose the use of a token-based incentive system to enable fair data sharing and utilization. One major challenge encountered with the FL model is ensuring that participants are willing to share their data and that they follow the protocols. In some systems, participants could send heavily obscured, and therefore less helpful, data and still access the benefits of the learning model as others who contributed more meaningful learning experiences.

The SBTLF method tackles this problem by introducing token-based incentives that are linked to the privacy parameter. Participants earn tokens by sharing less obscured (less noise-added) data. Clearer (less obscured) data earns more tokens. These tokens can then be used to access global model updates and to reward participants who contribute more valuable data. Additionally, by encrypting the model updates and using blockchain for security, the risks associated with security attacks and a single point of failure are drastically reduced.

While this research opens up many exciting possibilities for secure collaborative machine learning, setting up a blockchain-based federated learning system can be technically complex and may require substantial computational resources. Moreover, introducing token-based incentives, which essentially involves a form of trading, may also require policy-level interventions.

Nevertheless, the research provides a promising approach to making federated learning more secure and efficient. It introduces privacy tools and a clever reward system to ensure fair participation. By exploring ways to ease implementation and enhance resistance to different types of attacks, the research can ultimately pave the way for federated learning models to learn from decentralized data in a secure and effective manner. As the field continues to grow, integrating blockchain and privacy measures could set high standards for global data security and collaborative learning.

This research news was partly generated using artificial intelligence and edited by an editor at Research Matters