Training Serving Skew

Understanding the Concept of Training-Serving Skew

A common problem experienced in machine learning is known as training-serving skew, which comes into play when there is a noticeable discrepancy between the data used for training and the data used for serving. Although a model may perform exceptionally during the training phase, it may encounter difficulties when presented with new scenarios due to this mismatch.

Defined simply, training-serving skew relates to the dissimilarities in size, properties, or distribution between training and serving data. Such a skew can manifest if the selected training data does not accurately mirror real-life data or if the real-world data undergoes significant changes over time.

Consider an example where a model is trained solely on pictures of cats. While the model may have a high successful prediction rate with cat pictures during training, it may underperform when tasked with identifying dogs or other animals during the serving phase. This is primarily because the model's training was limited to cat detection.

To mitigate the effects of training-serving skew, it’s essential that the model is subjected to a wide variety of data during testing, and also that the chosen training data is a good representation of the real-world data you'll encounter.

The Significance of Training-Serving Skew

The skew in machine learning greatly influences a model’s efficacy and functionality. If the model is trained on data that poorly represents real-world scenarios or is tested on a limited data set during the serving phase, it could lead to poor performance, prediction errors, and even potential damage for individuals or organizations relying on the model's outcomes.

Let's examine some of the reasons why training-serving skew is important:

• Real-World Complexity: Real-world data is often complex and diverse when compared to training data. Without training on a wide variety of data, models can struggle with unfamiliar situations or environments.
• Decision Making: Machine learning models often make critical decisions that affect individuals and businesses. If these models aren't tested on a sufficient and representative sample, it can increase the risk of harmful or discriminatory decisions.
• Data Distribution: Changes can arise due to shifts in user behavior, market variances, or implementation of new policies. The model’s performance may deteriorate during the serving phase if it was not trained with recent data or re-examined against varied data sets.

Skew Transformation and Prevention

Skew transformation is a data preparation method that corrects imbalanced data distributions. Data is said to be skewed when it does not show a normal distribution around the mean, often resembling long tails on either side.

Since many machine learning models work under the assumption that data has a regular distribution, skew transformation can be beneficial for ML in production as it minimizes the influence that skewed data may have on predictions, thereby eliminating any extra biases in the data during post-transformation.

Training-serving skew can be prevented or its impacts lessened in several ways:

It's important to utilize a diverse and representative sample of data in the training phase to ensure successful model generalization.

Retrain the model regularly to maintain its accuracy and efficacy, especially in light of shifting data distributions.

Use data augmentation to minimize training-serving skew and enhance the model's adaptability to unfamiliar environments.

Implement transfer learning to improve the model's performance in new environments, while simultaneously reducing the quantity of training data required.