Nearly two decades have passed since British mathematician Clive Humby declared data to be the “new oil”. But, unlike oil, data is not a finite resource. In fact, new data is being created all the time.
And never has it been more important, as thousands of businesses seek to build and train AI algorithms. Deriving success from generative AI means ensuring that the data that shapes it is as good and reliable as possible.
“There’s a kind of black-box thinking around AI at the moment,” says Rachel Aldighieri, managing director of trade body the Data and Marketing Association (DMA). “It’s really important to unpack how AI works: it’s not algorithms that are necessarily causing issues around data privacy and ethics, it’s the data practises companies are using.”