One-line Summary

A privacy-preserving recommendation system using encrypted IDs, zero-knowledge proof validation, and matrix factorization.

Problem

Recommendation systems often rely on user-item interaction data, which can expose sensitive user behavior if handled carelessly. This project explores how collaborative filtering can be paired with privacy-preserving mechanisms while still producing useful recommendations.

System Architecture

The system combines:

  • MovieLens-style user-item rating data
  • Encrypted identifiers for privacy protection
  • Matrix factorization for collaborative filtering
  • Zero-knowledge proof validation concepts
  • Evaluation with recommendation metrics such as RMSE and MAE

My Contribution

  • Implemented the recommendation model workflow with PyTorch
  • Integrated encryption-oriented handling for identifiers
  • Studied how privacy mechanisms interact with recommendation quality
  • Evaluated the system with standard collaborative filtering metrics

Technical Stack

Python PyTorch MovieLens AES Zero-Knowledge Proof Matrix Factorization

Results / Current Status

This project is a strong complement to the embedded AI work because it shows machine learning system design through a privacy and security lens.

What I Learned

  • How matrix factorization supports collaborative filtering
  • Why privacy-preserving system design affects data modeling choices
  • How recommendation metrics help evaluate model behavior beyond implementation correctness

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