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.
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Company%20profile
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
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."
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21
- Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
- Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
- Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
- Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
- Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
- Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
- Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
- Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
Company%20profile
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Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Company%C2%A0profile
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPyppl%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEstablished%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAntti%20Arponen%20and%20Phil%20Reynolds%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20financial%20services%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2418.5%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEmployees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20150%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20series%20A%2C%20closed%20in%202021%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20venture%20capital%20companies%2C%20international%20funds%2C%20family%20offices%2C%20high-net-worth%20individuals%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
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