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Machine unlearning

By Updated

Techniques that remove a training record's influence from a model without full retraining. Exact methods retrain an affected shard 1; approximate methods adjust weights and are hard to verify, so an unlearning claim is tested with membership-inference or extraction evals.

Developed in
ch. 19, Suppression, retraining and unlearning
ch. 05, Pattern: Rights Requests Against Models
Chapters
ch. 05, Patterns · ch. 19, Privacy & AI
Contrast with
Output suppression
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

One chapter of the Body of Knowledge uses the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Machine unlearning: mentions per chapter1 mention of the term across 1 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterCross-referenced, not named05 Patterns019 Privacy & AI: 1 mention19 Privacy & AI1No mentions in the other 21 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Machine unlearning: mentions per chapter1 mention of the term across 1 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterCross-referenced, not named00010203040506070810111213141516171819 Privacy & AI: 1 mention11920212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Machine unlearning per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0Yes
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development0No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI1Yes
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

One pattern page uses the term.

Machine unlearning: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern02 InventoryMachine unlearningRelated terms (2)Evals · RelatedEvalsFulfilment record · RelatedFulfilment recordContrast with (1)Output suppression · ContrastOutput suppressionPatterns using it (1)Rights Requests Against Models, 1 mention · Uses the termRights Requests Against Models
Machine unlearning: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern02 InventoryRelated terms (2)Evals · RelatedEvalsFulfilment record · RelatedFulfilment recordContrast with (1)Output suppression · ContrastOutput suppressionPatterns using it (1)Rights Requests Against Models, 1 mention · Uses the termRights Requests Against ModelsMachineunlearning
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Machine unlearning
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsEvalsRelated
Related termsFulfilment recordRelated
Contrast withOutput suppressionContrast
Patterns using itRights Requests Against Models, 1 mentionUses the term
  • Fulfilment record

    The per-request record of how a data-subject request was honoured wherever the person's data sits, from source systems, snapshots, retrieval indexes, logs and…

  • Evals

    Automated tests of a model's or agent's behaviour (capability, safety and adversarial), run as controls, not as one-off research.

Sources

  1. [1] "Machine Unlearning" (Bourtoule et al.; SISA training; arXiv 1912.03817). arXiv. 2019-12-09. https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.03817 (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Machine unlearning. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/machine-unlearning. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026machineunlearning,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Machine unlearning}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/machine-unlearning}
}