A Standard for Data? Yes, Please.

Hello,

This is Simon with the latest edition of The Weekly. In these updates, I share key AI related stories from this week's news, list upcoming events, and share any longer form articles posted on the website.

In the last few days, data heavyweights like Snowflake, Salesforce, and Sigma have announced the Open Semantic Interchange (OSI) initiative. The OSI is set to be an open standard for defining data, creating what's known as a 'semantic model'.

One of the biggest hurdles to starting any AI project is getting your hands on accurate, consistent data. The OSI initiative aims to solve just that.

If you've ever tried to integrate two different systems—where one company structures its data in one way, while a second labels it in another—you'll know that a huge amount of time is spent just cleaning it up to create a standardised data set. The OSI simply aims to provide a standard that everyone agrees on.

Having an entirely vendor-neutral approach should significantly speed up new projects and data analysis.

Imagine pulling all of your customer records from your CRM system in a format that is instantly recognised by your marketing platform. I know one insurance company that has huge issues with IT systems not using the same format for customer details, resulting in some customers having three different versions of their home address on file. This causes significant operational issues. It can lead to trouble with regulators and hefty fines when key information isn't sent to the right place.

I have previously spoken about the need for data catalogues to keep data management under control, but the real advantage here is having a single standard across the whole industry, rather than numerous standards for specific tools.

Initiatives like this aren't always the most exciting, but it’s these foundational improvements that have the biggest impact on the success (or failure) of an AI project.

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In this section, I’m going to bring to you a real world example of AI use.

Nvidia has announced a £2 billion investment aimed at accelerating the UK’s AI ecosystem — funding startups, infrastructure, and compute capacity.

Why it matters: It’s a strong vote of confidence in UK AI innovation and signals growing access to capital and resources for AI ventures.

Retail investors are increasingly turning to chat tools like ChatGPT for stock picks. That shift is helping drive a surge in the robo-advisor market, projected to grow sharply through 2029.

Why it matters: This shows how AI is blurring lines between casual users and financial tools, creating new business models.

A recent industry survey (the 2025 AI Collaboration Index by Atlassian) finds that despite widespread AI adoption, many organisations are struggling to convert it into meaningful productivity or revenue gains.

Why it matters: For business leaders, it emphasizes the importance of clarity: align AI use to business goals, monitor outcomes, and invest in change management rather than just tools.

Thanks for reading, and see you next Friday.

Simon,

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