Learner-Private Convex Optimization

Convex optimization with feedback is a framework where a learner relies on iterative queries and feedback to arrive at the minimizer of a convex function. It has gained considerable popularity thanks to its scalability in large-scale optimization and machine learning. The repeated interactions, however, expose the learner to privacy risks from eavesdropping adversaries that observe the submitted queries. In this paper, we study how to optimally obfuscate the learner’s queries in convex optimization with first-order feedback, so that their learned optimal value is provably difficult to estimate for an eavesdropping adversary. We consider two formulations of learner privacy: a Bayesian formulation in which the convex function is drawn randomly, and a maximin formulation in which the function is fixed and the adversary’s probability of error is measured with respect to a minimax criterion. Suppose that the learner wishes to ensure the adversary cannot estimate accurately with probability greater than <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1/L$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for some <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L > 0$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Our main results show that the query complexity overhead is additive in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in the maximin formulation, but multiplicative in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in the Bayesian formulation. Compared to existing learner-private sequential learning models with binary feedback, our results apply to the significantly richer family of general convex functions with full-gradient feedback. Our proofs rely on tools from the theory of Dirichlet processes, as well as a novel strategy designed for measuring information leakage under a full-gradient oracle.