Differential Replication in Machine Learning

When deployed in the wild, machine learning models are usually confronted with data and requirements that constantly vary, either because of changes in the generating distribution or because external constraints change the environment where the model operates. To survive in such an ecosystem, machine learning models need to adapt to new conditions by evolving over time. The idea of model adaptability has been studied from different perspectives. In this paper, we propose a solution based on reusing the knowledge acquired by the already deployed machine learning models and leveraging it to train future generations. This is the idea behind differential replication of machine learning models. "If during the long course of ages and under varying conditions of life, organic beings vary at all in the several parts of their organization, [...] I think it would be a most extraordinary fact if no variation ever had occurred useful to each being's own welfare, in the same way as so many variations have occurred useful to man. But if variations useful to any organic being do occur, assuredly individuals thus characterized will have the best chance of being preserved in the struggle for life; and from the strong principle of inheritance they will tend to produce offspring similarly characterized. This principle of preservation, I have called, for the sake of brevity, Natural Selection."