The big concern in the data industry relates to quality. Simply put, data has to be good enough for AI to do its job.
One of the main messages to businesses coming out of this year's Big Data London conference is to 'ensure your data is in good, standardised working order, before considering applying AI tools to it'. Bad data, AI and analytics firms say, will just lead to bad results.
'Garbage in, garbage out'
“The foundation of good AI hinges heavily on good data quality,” Chandrashekar Lalapet Srinivas Prasanna (LSP), managing director of Zoho Canada, told The National. “It goes back to the cliché 'garbage in, garbage out'. So, there is good quality data, there is AI on top and there is contextualising it for your business.”
As such, businesses need to take steps to make sure their data is good and trustworthy before applying AI software. Otherwise, the results gleaned would be meaningless at best and misleading at worst. “You can't just run with AI from day one,” Mr Prasanna added.
Not all businesses will be aware of the vital step of readying their data for AI. Some go to companies such as Quest Solutions, which specialises in ensuring that data can be rationalised and structured.
“We do a lot in the financial and insurance sectors,” Susan Laine, the company's chief field technologist, told The National, “but now with AI, we're branching out a lot to manufacturers and so on. It's folks that want to get ahead with data, they want to innovate with data and monetise data.”
It is the speed of the advances in AI that the exhibiting companies at Big Data London, in the British capital's Olympia exhibition centre, are harnessing for applications for their business clients. They find that as the technology evolves it becomes a cost-effective tool that enables firms to get more out of the data they already have.
“We're not just seeing it as a measure to correct things and offer more services,” Sam Boulton, business development manager with Simpson Associates, told The National. “We're also seeing people now saying, 'We've spent all this time now on data lineage, we've got the data we need, we've got more data than we've ever had before, so let's start to use it to support our business strategy and get us to where we want to get to.'"
According to research firm Gartner, 70 per cent of AI programmes fail, because the data being fed in is not good enough. Essentially, AI sits on top of the data, and if the two are not compatible, then the process won't yield either expected or desirable results. “In fact, the AI programme is data,” Ms Laine said. “The most common misconception is that it's a bunch of code. It's not, it's a bunch of data behind AI.”
Building awareness among businesses of the need for good, “clean” and usable data was a theme of serious debate at Big Data London. Delegates agreed there was no way around it and it is an essential step that cannot be overlooked, missed or ignored.
“With anything new, people want to take shortcuts,” Ms Laine said. “So, they're going to want to get to it and get it out, but now they're finding that it takes a while to train a model and if you train the model on bad data and come out with nothing, that's going to set you back. So, they're going to learn soon that you can't skip the steps and the biggest step is ensuring that you have good, trusted data.”
'Dramatic swing to AI'
The market for artificial intelligence is set for even more impressive expansion in the coming years, Big Data London was told, with the conference chairman adding that generative AI (GenAI) is now “everywhere” and “inside every computer”.
“What a change we've had in the last year,” Mike Ferguson, managing director of Intelligent Business Strategies, said. “Still [venture capital investment in] data management is going up, but more money has gone into AI and analytics in the last 12 months than in the last five years combined - an absolutely dramatic swing towards AI.”
According to Precedence Research, the size of the AI market in 2024 will be $638 billion, but by 2030 it could be worth more than $1.8 trillion. Between 2018 and this year, the top 15 analytics and AI software vendors in the world attracted $19.9 billion in venture capital investment. “That number of over $19 billion, was $9.5 billion last year,” Mr Ferguson said.
Success is evident in the mainstream as well, and not just for the industry firms Microsoft and Google. Shares in Oracle have risen 60 per cent this year, as the company builds itself a reputation in the GenAI arena.
The Big Data London conference was told that not only is GenAI now baked into database management systems, tools, services, applications and processes, but new themes and developments are emerging such as AI agents, as well as decision intelligence for decision automation.
Deemed as being one of the next steps in AI development, AI agents are software programmes that interact with their environments, collect data and use the data to reach human-determined goals, but through self-determined tasks. While a human sets the goal, the AI can select how that goal is achieved.
“Expectations are raised even higher by the emergence of the new kid on the block – AI agents, which are very, very new and are still evolving here, so expect things to change rapidly,” Mr Ferguson said.
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Remaining Fixtures
Wednesday: West Indies v Scotland
Thursday: UAE v Zimbabwe
Friday: Afghanistan v Ireland
Sunday: Final
NEW%20PRICING%20SCHEME%20FOR%20APPLE%20MUSIC%2C%20TV%2B%20AND%20ONE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApple%20Music%3Cbr%3EMonthly%20individual%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2410.99%20(from%20%249.99)%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMonthly%20family%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2416.99%20(from%20%2414.99)%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EIndividual%20annual%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24109%20(from%20%2499)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApple%20TV%2B%3Cbr%3EMonthly%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%246.99%20(from%20%244.99)%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAnnual%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2469%20(from%20%2449.99)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApple%20One%3Cbr%3EMonthly%20individual%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2416.95%20(from%20%2414.95)%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMonthly%20family%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2422.95%20(from%20%2419.95)%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMonthly%20premier%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2432.95%20(from%20%2429.95)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Freezer tips
- Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
- If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
- Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
- The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
Company%20profile
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SECRET%20INVASION
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ali%20Selim%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Samuel%20L%20Jackson%2C%20Olivia%20Coleman%2C%20Kingsley%20Ben-Adir%2C%20Emilia%20Clarke%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Ahmed Raza, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri , Zahoor Khan
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RESULT
RS Leipzig 3
Marcel Sabitzer 10', 21'
Emil Forsberg 87'
Tottenham 0
HWJN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Yasir%20Alyasiri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Baraa%20Alem%2C%20Nour%20Alkhadra%2C%20Alanoud%20Saud%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
