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If data is the new oil, synthetic data is an ethical and renewable alternative
If data is the new oil, synthetic data is an ethical and renewable alternative
In 2006, the British mathematician Clive Humfry coined the now-familiar phrase, ‘Data is the new oil’. However, 16 years from his pronouncement, the realities and consequences of this “new oil” have caused many to turn to a renewable alternative to power AI: synthetic data.

If data is the new oil, synthetic data is an ethical and renewable alternative

In 2006, the British mathematician Clive Humfry coined the now-familiar phrase, ‘Data is the new oil’. However, 16 years from his pronouncement, the realities and consequences of this “new oil” have caused many to turn to a renewable alternative to power AI: synthetic data. 

Move over software; it’s now artificial intelligence “eating the world” – and its seemingly insatiable appetite for training data means developers urgently need a new source of accurate, privacy-compliant data to fuel their models. Training a simple visual recognition AI requires upwards of 100,000 perfectly-annotated, privacy-compliant images. The challenge for AI developers then is where to source this data – and in high-enough volume.