Good data strategy is needed for GenAI

Without a good data strategy, generative AI becomes unusable technology for enterprises.

This was true when ChatGPT started becoming popular, and it is even more accurate years later.

The most recent example is the AI Chinese startup DeepSeek. While most AI cloud providers like Google, AWS and Microsoft now offer the DeepSeek-R1 reasoning model, many AI experts believe that enterprises might be hesitant to use it due to the data it was trained on.

Despite DeepSeek's R1's innovation, it all comes down to the foundation, said Michelle Bonat, chief AI officer at AI Squared, an AI and data integration platform.

"As GenAI expands and expands ... the fundamentals are the fundamentals," Bonat said on the latest episode of Informa TechTarget's Targeting AI podcast.

She added that while many organizations may have started with GenAI by just putting up a chatbot, many have found that if they do not have good quality data, they might have to pause their GenAI initiatives.

The reason is that the nature of generative AI systems is to produce responses. Therefore, if they do not have good-quality data, they tend to hallucinate.

Thus, Bonat said the growth in GenAI initiatives across organizations has also led to an increase in conversation around data strategy, data quality and data cleanliness.

"They're very much connected," she said. "GenAI has become important in the conversation that connects with data strategy, data quality, data cleanliness and also, ultimately, in responsible AI and governance within the organization."

She added that enterprises should pay attention to data and responsible AI because it benefits their businesses.

"It's a competitive advantage to have responsible AI," she continued. "Customers want AI systems they can trust. ... Being transparent and having responsible AI helps increase your brand reputation."

Esther Shittu is an Informa TechTarget news writer and podcast host covering artificial intelligence software and systems. Shaun Sutner is senior news director for Informa TechTarget's information management team, driving coverage of artificial intelligence, unified communications, analytics and data management technologies. Together, they host the Targeting AI podcast series.