Over half (51%) of the UK’s IT decision makers are either ‘not very’ or only ‘somewhat’ certain that the data generated by their AI tools is compliant with regulations such as GDPR.
That’s according to a survey by Cisco-owned Splunk, which says despite the fact that 88% of UK IT decision makers (ITDMs) are currently running or have already worked on an AI project, and fines for non-compliance can cost organisations tens of millions.
The research, which surveyed 500 UK ITDMs from companies of 250 seats or more, also revealed that 64% of ITDMs are concerned that compliance is set to become even more challenging over the next three years with additional research from Splunk revealing that over a third (36%*) of UK IT, engineering, and cybersecurity professionals have already experienced significant negative impacts due to general compliance failures.
Other findings from the recent survey of ITDMs:
- 30% claim that the EU AI Act, specifically, has become one of the biggest compliance challenges facing their team, despite not being fully implemented yet. Compliance with the EU AI Act will be key for UK companies looking to operate AI products internationally.
- Over half (56%) claim AI is fuelling an ‘unmanageable explosion’ in data volumes, with 60% reporting challenges in processing and storing the increased amount of data AI creates.
- A third (33%) cite AI as ‘one of the main causes for runaway data growth’ within their organisation.
- 89% report that the general data volumes their business deals with have increased by 50% or more in just three years, but one in three (33%) say they currently lack an effective data management strategy.
Petra Jenner, GM & SVP EMEA at Splunk said, “There’s no doubt that AI has huge potential to revolutionise workloads, scale human efforts, and become a core part of every business’s future roadmap. But it also brings potential complexity, especially when it comes to ensuring compliance with evolving regulations, and overseeing how data is governed and secured.
“On balance, the good news is that almost half (47%) of UK ITDMs are ‘very certain’ that the data generated by their AI is compliant, suggesting many businesses have made confident strides in their compliance journey. But that still leaves more than half of UK businesses expressing some measure of doubt over whether the data created by their AI tools was compliant – suggesting some degree of business risk.”
“Effective Data Management is key to building the visibility and control needed to support safe, scalable AI. The real differentiator won’t necessarily be how fast companies adopt AI, but how well they embed trust, discipline, and compliance into every layer of their data strategy.”
Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash
