Appen’s Annual State of AI and Machine Learning Report Identifies a Gap in Ideal Versus Reality of Data Quality

Appen Partners with The Harris Poll to Uncover Bottlenecks, Challenges and Opportunities for Practitioners in the AI Industry

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Appen Limited (ASX:APX), the global leader in data for the AI Lifecycle providing data sourcing, data preparation, and model evaluation by humans at scale, today released its eighth annual State of AI and Machine Learning report. This year’s report reveals that sourcing quality data is an obstacle to creating AI.

According to the report’s findings, 51% of participants agree that data accuracy is critical to their AI use case. To successfully build AI models, organizations need accurate and high-quality data. Unfortunately, business leaders and technologists report a significant gap in ideal vs reality in achieving data accuracy.

Appen’s research also found that companies are shifting their focus to responsible AI and maturing in their use of AI. More business leaders and technologists are focusing on improving the data quality behind AI projects in order to promote more inclusive datasets and, as a result, unbiased and better AI. In fact, 80% of respondents stated data diversity is extremely important or very important, and 95% agree that synthetic data will be a key player when it comes to creating inclusive datasets.

“This year’s State of AI report finds that 93% of respondents believe responsible AI is the foundation of all AI projects,” said Mark Brayan, CEO at Appen. “The problem is, many are facing the challenges of trying to build great AI with poor datasets, and it’s creating a significant roadblock to reaching their goals.”

Additional key takeaways from the 2022 State of AI Report include:

● Sourcing: 42% of technologists say the data sourcing stage of the AI lifecycle is very challenging.

● Evaluation: 90% are retraining their models more than quarterly.

● Adoption: Business leaders are split down the middle on whether their organization is ahead of (49%) or even with (49%) others in their industry.

“The majority of AI efforts are spent managing data for the AI lifecycle, which means it is an incredible undertaking for AI leads to handle alone – and is the area many are struggling with,” said Sujatha Sagiraju, Chief Product Officer at Appen. “Sourcing high-quality data is critical to the success of AI solutions, and we are seeing organizations emphasis the importance of data accuracy.”

The State of AI report was sourced from 504 interviews collected via The Harris Poll online survey of IT decision makers, business leaders and managers, and technical practitioners from the US, UK, Ireland, and Germany.

To learn more, download the full 2022 State of AI and Machine Learning report.

About Appen Limited

Appen is the global leader in data for the AI Lifecycle. With over 25 years of experience in data sourcing, data annotation, and model evaluation by humans, we enable organizations to launch the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence systems. Our expertise includes a global crowd of over 1 million skilled contractors who speak over 235 languages, in over 70,000 locations and 170 countries, and the industry’s most advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform. Our products and services give leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, healthcare, and governments the confidence to launch world-class AI products. Founded in 1996, Appen has customers and offices globally.