I agree. AI effectiveness is not a technology problem; it’s a process discipline problem. That puts this squarely in PM territory. Most organizations don’t suffer from a lack of data. They suffer from data without intent (inconsistent formats, no ownership or lifecycle, no link to outcomes, no decision context). AI does not create clarity. It reflects it. Unstructured data isn’t useless; it’s undisciplined.
The phrase “AI is only as effective as the data that feeds it” is correct, but incomplete. The real problem is not a lack of data, but a lack of usable data. Many organizations accumulated information for decades without a clear analytical purpose, quality standards, or an architecture designed for interoperability. The result is predictable: enormous repositories that appear valuable but, in practice, function as unstructured noise.
In other words:
- The scarcity is not of data, but of reliable data.
- The critical investment is not in models, but in governance, quality, and architecture.
- AI doesn't fix chaos; it amplifies it. Saving Changes...
It's completely true Sajid, the data is the core of AI. So, companies should take strong care of the databases.
Many enterprises store large amounts of data for a long time. The main pitfalls that we can encounter when working with large amounts of data are inaccuracies, incoherence, and duplicated or outdated data. It's appropriate to use Data Quality Management Software to identify and correct these issues, and also monitor and synchronize data across the company, keeping database quality perfect. Saving Changes...
This is an example of where the tool is limited by the capabilities of the user.
Prior to the explosion of AI, I had the opportunity to pose a related question to a professor in data science who was a guest speaker during a computer science course. His response was that using modern big data toolsets, that unstructured data can be organized for effective use. I am not an expert myself, but we did learn some basic Apache Hadoop algorithms hosted on Amazon Web Services to demonstrate some basic capabilities. A colleague of mine at Microsoft who is an expert demonstrated how they apply data analytics to the speech patterns from X-box live players to identify software issues with the games, which is a literal example of using unstructured noise.
While I am not personally knowledgeable enough to do that in any meaningful way, specialists with the right skillsets can certainly use algorithms to filter the noise and organize the information. I'm sure that skilled AI users with the right tools can do similar things with the right prompts, just like they can use it to write other types of code. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
First of all, as you know, AI is a board term. Unfortunately, in the last time, I saw some people are using generative AI as synonym of AI which is the first step to fail in using AI as a component of a solution. Second, AI is a tool to take data and convert it into information. Just to understand the difference, if needed, go to Shannon Theory of Information. We are surrounded of AI entities from more than 50 years ago that take data and create information. People can find it in refrigerators, air conditioners, cars, phones and manufacturing factories for example. So, the key thing do not fail, is to understand that AI is always something embedded into a data based solution. Nothing new below the sun.
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
AI is limited less by technology and more by data discipline. When data lacks structure, ownership, and decision context, AI only amplifies the noise. We need have governance, quality, and clarity of purpose in place, instead of just more advanced models alone. Saving Changes...
"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened."
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