With the increasing use of data-driven modeling methods new approaches to complex problems in the field of wind energy can be addressed. Topics reviewed through literature include wake modeling, performance monitoring and controls applications, condition monitoring and fault detection, and other data-driven research. Literature shows the advantages of data-driven methods reduce computational expense or complexity, particularly in the cases of wake modeling and controls, as well as various data-driven methodologies’ aptitude for predictive modeling and classification, as in the cases of fault detection and diagnosis. Significant work exists for fault detection while less work is found for controls applications. A methodology for creating data-driven wind turbine models for arbitrary performance parameters is proposed. Results are presented utilizing the methodology to create wind turbine models relating active adaptive twist to steady-state rotor thrust as a performance parameter of interest. Resulting models are evaluated by comparing root-mean-square-error (RMSE) on both the training and validation data sets, with Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), deemed an accurate model for this application. The resulting model undergoes particle swarm optimization to determine the optimal aerostructure twist shape at a given wind speed with respect to the modeled performance parameter, aerodynamic thrust load. The optimization process shows an improvement of 3.15% in thrust loading for the 10 MW reference turbine, and 2.66% for the 15 MW reference turbine.