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When revealed data brings AI rollouts to a screeching halt - and how to manage it

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Why This Matters

The article highlights how the rapid adoption of AI in enterprises has led to unforeseen data exposure and governance challenges, prompting some organizations to pause or reevaluate their AI initiatives. This underscores the importance of robust data management and governance frameworks to safely harness AI's productivity benefits. For consumers and the industry, it emphasizes that responsible AI deployment requires careful oversight to prevent data leaks and ensure compliance.

Key Takeaways

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ZDNET's key takeaways

AI can boost productivity and improve data access.

Tech leaders have had to halt rollouts due to data concerns.

Long-fogotten insights emerge with AI prompts.

Agentic and generative AI have opened up information and insights to professionals in enterprises. However, evidence suggests that trend could be too much of a good thing. At a recent conference, veterans of enterprise AI rollouts issued cautionary words to professionals considering diving headfirst into AI.

The issues these professionals encountered even led to temporary halts in AI rollouts meant to boost employee productivity, as executives reassessed information that could be exposed internally. At the same time, the executives, who spoke on a panel at the recent Veeam conference in New York City, emphasized that AI wasn't the source of the challenge. Both panelists' organizations had accumulated vast stores of data, and one required a new governance structure.

Also: 96% of IT pros use AI now: Their top 7 agentic applications and biggest implementation roadblocks

Steve MacIntyre, senior vice president at Fidelity Investments, described how his 400,000-employee company saw data long tucked away in the recesses of its organization -- on SharePoint sites or in network-attached storage, for example -- suddenly surface via AI prompts. "It wasn't an AI problem," he said. "It was the productivity and the ability of AI to find things quickly."

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