Deep Generative Models, Synthetic Tabular Data, and Differential Privacy: An Overview and Synthesis

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2307.15424
• Publication Date: 2023-01-01
• Authors: Hassan, Conor; Salomone, Robert; Mengersen, Kerrie
• Keywords: FOS: Computer and information sciences; Computer Science - Machine Learning; Statistics - Machine Learning; Applications (stat.AP); Machine Learning (stat.ML); Statistics - Applications; Statistics - Computation; Computation (stat.CO); Machine Learning (cs.LG)

This article provides a comprehensive synthesis of the recent developments in synthetic data generation via deep generative models, focusing on tabular datasets. We specifically outline the importance of synthetic data generation in the context of privacy-sensitive data. Additionally, we highlight the advantages of using deep generative models over other methods and provide a detailed explanation of the underlying concepts, including unsupervised learning, neural networks, and generative models. The paper covers the challenges and considerations involved in using deep generative models for tabular datasets, such as data normalization, privacy concerns, and model evaluation. This review provides a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners interested in synthetic data generation and its applications.