Self-adaptive Machine Learning Systems: Research Challenges and Opportunities

Today's world is witnessing a shift from human-written software to machine-learned software, with the rise of systems that rely on machine learning. These systems typically operate in non-static environments, which are prone to unexpected changes, as is the case of self-driving cars and enterprise systems. In this context, machine-learned software can misbehave. Thus, it is paramount that these systems are capable of detecting problems with their machined-learned components and adapting themselves to maintain desired qualities. For instance, a fraud detection system that cannot adapt its machine-learned model to efficiently cope with emerging fraud patterns or changes in the volume of transactions is subject to losses of millions of dollars. In this paper, we take a first step towards the development of a framework for self-adaptation of systems that rely on machine-learned components. We describe: (i) a set of causes of machine-learned component misbehavior and a set of adaptation tactics inspired by the literature on machine learning, motivating them with the aid of two running examples from the enterprise systems and cyber-physical systems domains; (ii) the required changes to the MAPE-K loop, a popular control loop for self-adaptive systems; and (iii) the challenges associated with developing this framework. We conclude with a set of research questions to guide future work.