Data Literacy, AI Democratization Top Trends in Data & AI/Analytics for 2024
Democratization of AI, the need for data literacy, and more are key themes in two new survey-based reports from a cloud giant and a research firm.
Google Cloud recently published "Data and AI Trends Report 2024, while Gartner announced its latest "Gartner Chief Data & Analytics Officer (CDAO) survey."
Generative AI, of course, was the star of each show, and one commonality between the two reports is the the democratization of the new tech, becoming more accessible to users of all types and even blurring the lines between job descriptions. In that regard, both reports find that "data literacy" is a key concern.
Google reported that nearly two-thirds of data decision-makers expect a democratization of access to insights in 2024, with 84% of survey respondents believing GenAI will help their organization access insights faster.
"It's almost impossible to overstate how significantly GenAI has changed the technological landscape," the Google report said. "In the case of business intelligence (BI), as tools become more accessible, even non-technical team members will be able to benefit from these insights; driving productivity and disseminating knowledge faster than ever before. That means better data literacy across your organization, smarter decisions being made, and ultimately greater success in the market."
Gartner, meanwhile, predicts bigger investments in data literacy.
"AI training is not just about quantity; it also requires a different approach. Recognize that the skill sets required for expert AI users will be very different from other users," said Ramke Ramakrishnan, VP analyst at the firm. "Gartner predicts, by 2027, more than half of CDAOs [chief data and analytics officers] will secure funding for data literacy and AI literacy programs, fueled by enterprise failure to realize expected value from generative AI."
In addition to investing in developing AI literacy among employees, Gartner also said organizations should use adaptive governance practices for more effective governance, along with implementing a trust-based approach to managing information assets in order to help users understand the provenance of information they use.
The democratization of advanced AI tech is a common theme throughout the industry as cloud giants and other major players continue to roll out ever more capable AI tools and services, once the exclusive province of data scientists and the like. Open source champion Linux Foundation, for example, recently unveiled the Open Platform for Enterprise AI (OPEA) as a new "Sandbox Project" from the Linux Foundation AI & Data Foundation. The goal is to facilitate and enable the development of flexible, scalable GenAI systems that harness the best open source innovations from across the ecosystem, (see "New Open Source AI & Data Platform Aims to Democratize GenAI Tech").
As democratization advances, Google sees a blurring of the roles of data and AI, reported by 80% of survey respondents. For one example, "Many data analysts are now taking on responsibilities that were traditionally reserved for data scientists and vice versa," the report said.
"Data analytics and engineering, AI, and business analytics are the most scarce skills within organizations," Google continued. "GenAI presents an opportunity to boost productivity of existing data teams and workloads, thus assisting with this widening skills gap. To be able to seamlessly use data and AI platforms allows organizations to improve productivity, and innovate faster by accelerating their data to AI journey."