"Generative-AI startups are rolling in billions of dollars of funding, but they could already be headed for failure if they can't get the right data -- and that won't be an easy feat.
Today, having the right data is more critical than ever for success. Now that building the actual models has become somewhat commoditized, the real value is in the data, said Paul Tyma, CTO-in-residence of Bullpen Capital.
Venture funding in generative-AI startups has grown from $4.8 billion in 2022 to $12.7 billion in the first five months of 2023, according to PitchBook. Now many of these companies are looking to build more niche AI models in areas such as finance or healthcare -- but getting access to training data sets hasn't been easy.
Some AI startups are targeting partnerships with big, data-rich enterprises. For example, Marna Ricker, global vice chair for tax at EY, said the firm has generative-AI startups approaching it everyday thanks to its vast troves of transactional data. But EY's global managing partner of client service, Andy Baldwin, said he has concerns about what would happen to EY's data if it is used to train an outside model.
"Who owns that data? And when we train the model, what's our access rights to that model? And how else are other people going to be able to use that model?" said Baldwin. "The data is part of our IP that we bring."" [1]
1. Business News: AI Startups Have Cash But Need More Data. Bousquette, Isabelle.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 16 June 2023: B.5.