Generative AI, or Gen AI, has become the talk of the town in tech circles, transforming how organisations perceive creativity and model training.
Yet, for Gen AI to truly flourish, one indispensable component is essential — AI-ready data. This data must be meticulously governed, unbiased, accurate and of high quality. As MIT Adjunct Professor Michael Stonebraker succinctly stated, “without clean data or clean enough data, your data science is worthless.”
Just as data quality is paramount in analytics and data science, its significance is even greater in Gen AI.
In the first of two blog posts, we’ll look at the catalysts driving the rise of Gen AI and the crucial role of Safe Landing Zone.
The Rise of Gen AI
Generative AI has rapidly gained traction as a disruptive force, with McKinsey’s estimates suggesting trillions of dollars being generated in potential economic value. This surge has spurred companies to focus their resources of developing and deploying Gen AI projects within a fiercely competitive landscape.
So, what exactly is fuelling this widespread adoption?
C-Suite Priorities & Strategic Imperatives
The C-Suites, serving as the nucleus of strategy vision and decision-making in every organisation, are increasingly recognising the transformative potential of Gen AI. With AI technology like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, DALL-E, etc., permeating every business unit, top executives are not merely observing but actively exploring or piloting Gen AI, driven by the potential for significant transformation and growth.
A recent survey reveals a striking fact of 61% of global enterprises are actively exploring or piloting Gen AI, with an additional 15% poised to dive in. From CEOs yearning for compelling narratives to CFOs demanding cost-effective solutions and CISOs vigilantly safeguarding against data exposure, the need for strategic agility is crystal clear. This proactive stance underscores the urgency and importance of obtaining AI-ready data to address each presented priority and need.
Amidst this dynamic landscape, data engineering and technology leaders, particularly CTOs and CDOs, feel the mounting pressure to promptly establish a robust data operations framework and capabilities to support Gen AI effectively.
Compliance & Risks
In tandem with strategic imperatives, regulatory compliance looms large for organisations venturing into Generative AI. The EU's AI Act, enforced since April 2024, lays down some dos and don'ts across four risk levels, providing a reliable framework for compliance. Failure to adhere to the EU AI Act can result in a hefty fine of up to 7% of global turnover for noncompliance.
Businesses are not only bound by governance rules and obligations but also mandated to conduct comprehensive risk assessments, undergo conformity assessments, and maintain meticulous technical documentation and records. Aligning data practices with prescribed risk levels is paramount. This process is vital for regulatory compliance as well as maintaining transparency, instilling confidence, and safeguarding business operations.
Recent lawsuits filed against Gen AI have shed light on the complex and multifaceted risk associated with such technology, including potential legal pitfalls such as intellectual property violations, privacy breaches and data protection violations, which can be seen in these cases:
GitHub: A class-action lawsuit alleges the companies’ infringed copyrights by using code to train Codex and Copilot AI tools.
Open AI: Facing multiple lawsuits over using copyrighted materials to train AI models.
Stable AI: Getty Images sued Stable AI, accusing the company of "brazen infringement of its intellectual property on a staggering scale" by using its copyrighted images to train AI models.
Data, AI and Automation
Despite regulatory hurdles, Gen AI presents significant opportunities for forward-thinking organizations to embrace it. However, realising these benefits demands a mature approach to data governance, management, and compliance. This entails leveraging automated data platforms that can help visualise lineage and validate compliance, including:
Proving no confidential/sensitive data is used
Proving no copyrighted data is used
Creating and enforcing policies around data usage
Creating procedures around how data is used and processed
Capturing documentation to validate policies and procedures
Just as Gartner highlighted, delivering technology alone will not be enough in the next three years. Organisation needs a sustainable technology environment that can increase the energy and efficiency of IT services, foster enterprise sustainability through technologies via traceability, analytics, and AI. By building strong data capabilities and becoming AI-driven businesses, organisations can unlock the potential in their business with substantial benefits and surpass their peers.
The Role of Safe Landing Zone in GEN AI Projects
While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, a solution exists to navigate the evolving landscape of AI governance and ensure only the correct allowable data is used to train and deploy AI models – Safe Landing Zone.
A Safe Landing Zone refers to a well-architected environment within the cloud or on-premises infrastructure that ensures data is securely managed, processed, and stored. It provides a controlled space where data can be ingested, transformed, and made ready for use by Gen AI models while adhering to best practices for security, compliance, and governance.
Key components of a safe landing zone encompass:
Data Collection and Cleansing: Before data can be used to train Gen AI models, it must be collected from various sources and cleansed to ensure accuracy and relevance. This involves removing duplicates, correcting errors, and filling in missing values. A safe landing zone facilitates these processes by providing tools and workflows designed to handle large volumes of data efficiently and securely.
Data Labelling and Annotation: For Gen AI models to understand and learn from data, it often needs to be labelled or annotated. This can include tagging images, categorizing text, or marking other types of data according to specific criteria. Safe landing zones support these tasks by offering access to annotation tools and services that can be scaled according to project needs.
Data Security and Governance: With the increasing importance of data privacy and protection, ensuring the security of the data used to train Gen AI models is paramount. Safe landing zones are designed with built-in security features such as encryption, access controls, and audit logs, helping organizations comply with regulations and protect sensitive information.
Data Representation and Modelling: Preparing data for Gen AI also entails transforming it into a format that AI models can readily and easily process. This might include converting text into tokens, normalizing numerical values, or encoding categorical data. Safe landing zones provide the computational resources and tools needed to perform these transformations at scale.
Integration with AI and Machine Learning Platforms: Finally, a safe landing zone should seamlessly integrate with the platforms and tools used to develop and deploy Gen AI models. This includes support for popular machine learning frameworks, access to AI development environments, and the ability to move data between different stages of the AI lifecycle easily.
GEN AI Data and Compliance: Wrapping Up
As organisations embark on the journey into the heart of Gen AI, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the quality of your data sets the stage for success. While Gen AI promises unprecedented opportunities for innovation and growth, organisations must navigate regulatory complexity and legal challenges as highlighted by recent lawsuits against industry giants.
Looking ahead, the concept of a Safe Landing Zone emerges as a crucial enabler, providing a secure environment for data processing and integration with Gen AI models. In the next part of the series, we will delve deeper into the practical steps data engineers can take to establish a safe landing zone and prepare data for Gen AI deployment.
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