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Membership inference

By Updated

An attack that determines whether a specific person's record was in a model's training set from the model's behaviour 1. The EDPB counts resistance to it among the evidence for claiming a model is anonymous.

Developed in
ch. 19, AI-specific privacy breaches
Chapters
ch. 19, Privacy & AI
Contrast with
Model inversion
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

3 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Membership inference: mentions per chapter5 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter14 Development: 1 mention14 Development115 Deployment: 1 mention15 Deployment119 Privacy & AI: 3 mentions19 Privacy & AI3No mentions in the other 20 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Membership inference: mentions per chapter5 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter0001020304050607081011121314 Development: 1 mention11415 Deployment: 1 mention11516171819 Privacy & AI: 3 mentions31920212223Source: 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 Membership inference per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development1No
15 Deployment1No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI3Yes
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

One pattern page uses the term.

Membership inference: 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 pattern01 Govern-as-CodeMembership inferenceRelated terms (2)Personal data breach · RelatedPersonal data breachRegurgitation · RelatedRegurgitationContrast with (1)Model inversion · ContrastModel inversionPatterns using it (1)AI Threat Model, 1 mention · Uses the termAI Threat Model
Membership inference: 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 pattern01 Govern-as-CodeRelated terms (2)Personal data breach · RelatedPersonal data breachRegurgitation · RelatedRegurgitationContrast with (1)Model inversion · ContrastModel inversionPatterns using it (1)AI Threat Model, 1 mention · Uses the termAI Threat ModelMembershipinference
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 Membership inference
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsPersonal data breachRelated
Related termsRegurgitationRelated
Contrast withModel inversionContrast
Patterns using itAI Threat Model, 1 mentionUses the term
  • Personal data breach

    A breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration or unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data, notified…

  • Regurgitation

    A model reproducing memorised training data verbatim, including personal data, whether prompted deliberately (training-data extraction) or not.

Sources

  1. [1] "Membership Inference Attacks against Machine Learning Models" (Shokri et al.; arXiv 1610.05820). arXiv. 2016-10-18. https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.05820 (verified: primary)

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

Cite this term

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

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026membershipinference,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Membership inference}},
  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/membership-inference}
}