AI, or artificial intelligence, is increasingly powering nearly everything around us. From tailoring business processes, to streamlining manufacturing and powering R&D, AI is the future.
“I believe in 10 years that AI will be for the masses,” said Florian Douetteau is the co-founder and CEO at Dataiku. “In 10 years, people will be using AI on a daily basis and leveraging it to do things better. All business processes will be automated through AI. To me it is the rise of Everyday AI.”
Already though, that change is coming, and appetite is ripe to on-board AI to better business. Seventy-four percent of business leaders anticipate that AI will deliver more efficient business processes, help create new business models (55 percent), and enable the creation of new products and services (54 percent), according to a survey by The AI Journal.
While many recognise the benefit AI can bring to their business, there aren’t enough data scientists to make AI in everything a reality. Businesses have to rethink who will be responsible for reading and making sense of the data available at their fingertips.
“We haven’t completely figured out who is supposed to build and maintain AI long-term in companies,” Doutteau said. “It’s a matter of a lack of resources and the fact that democratisation is happening at the same time.”
A report from Dataiku found that “2021 was a particularly defining moment in time for the data science and AI space because many organisations realised that they are not going to scale AI impact without enlisting non-experts to the cause.”
Several platforms, including Dataiku, have positioned themselves as plug to that skill gap.
“If AI is supposed to be the thing that keeps companies competitive, we need way more people doing it,” Douetteau said. “Today the barrier isn’t with the technology. It’s in the change management and the translation as in you translate a business problem into a data problem and then convince people to use the data to solve the problem.”
Once companies figure out who will be responsible for AI within their organisations, the use cases seem nearly limitless.
Doutteau said he’s particularly excited for AI in manufacturing and how it can accelerate the design of more sustainable goods and objects, like engine parts.
“Some of our users were able to leverage our platform to accelerate the simulation and design of engines and generate pieces of engines that were consuming less fuel,” he said.
Dataiku has recently rolled out its 11th iteration of the platform, introducing more visualisation features.
“We want Dataiku to be the platform where you can do everything data related, but more importantly, our users are beyond traditional data scientists, and that’s why we keep adding capabilities on the platform in a visual way to allow users to do more with data,” Doutteau said.
The new version also has updated governance features, in line with a growing need to manage operations related to AI, ensure quality, responsibility, and overall governance – especially as regulations and guidelines start to emerge.
“You’ve heard of responsible AI which is at the top of mind for the market today. It’s about building AI that is scalable in the sense that you understand the biases of AI and you understand who is accountable for AI,” he said. “We’re adding capabilities on governance so you can fully keep track of your projects and models.”
Dataiku 11 builds on Dataiku’s recent market momentum, in which the company crossed $150 million in annual recurring revenue and hired tech finance veteran Adam Towns as CFO. The company now serves more than 500 enterprises globally, helping leaders from Boeing to Unilever to speed workflows, prevent customer churn, and improve financial performance.
