DPCheatSheet: Using Worked and Erroneous LLM-usage Examples to Scaffold Differential Privacy Implementation

Abstract

This paper explores how programmers without specialized expertise in differential privacy (DP) (i.e., novices) can leverage LLMs to implement DP programs with minimal training. We first conducted a need-finding study with 6 novices and 3 experts to understand how they utilize LLMs in DP implementation. While DP experts can implement correct DP analyses through a few prompts, novices struggle to articulate their requirements in prompts and lack the skills to verify the correctness of the generated code. We then developed DPCheatSheet, an instructional tool that helps novices implement DP using LLMs. DPCheatSheet combines two learning concepts: it annotates an expert's workflow with LLMs as a worked example to bridge the expert mindset to novices, and it presents five common mistakes in LLM-based DP code generation as erroneous examples to support error-driven learning. We demonstrated the effectiveness of DPCheatSheet with an error identification study and an open-ended DP implementation study.