The Rise of AI Governance: Collibra’s Path to Leadership
As the market for AI governance begins to take shape, vendors are jostling for position. One of those vendors is Collibra, which is eager to build on its success in data governance and stake out a claim near the top of the heap.
A Leader in Data Governance
Collibra spent the first 15 years of its existence fighting for respect in the nascent data governance market. The company, based in Brussels, Belgium and New York City, fought back against the perception that data governance wasn’t really a thing and that it didn’t deserve its own category.
"We’ve been saying to Gartner for more than a decade, where is your Magic Quadrant for data governance?" says Stijn Christiaens, the company’s co-founder and chief data citizen. "They never had one because it’s a political kerfuffle. Governance was part of metadata. It was part of master data. It was part of data quality quadrants. But now they have one."
From Data Governance to AI Governance
Just as data governance is finally getting the respect that it deserves, along comes another governance-related field. AI governance wasn’t really on anybody’s radar until late November 2022, when OpenAI dropped ChatGPT on the world. As companies began to play around with the technology, they quickly realized that it needed governance, Christiaens says.
"What you’re seeing now is the leaders jump on AI governance first," he tells BigDATAwire. "Governance comes in the beginning, not at the end. So the leaders in data analytics and AI, they’re already taking on AI governance from the start, and we’re seeing that in our customer base."
Collibra AI Governance
Nine months ago, Collibra launched its AI governance product, which is designed to minimize the risk of adoption of AI and maximize the return on investment by increasing visibility into how the AI models work, and automating governance workflows that surround them. Collibra AI Governance was the most popular beta product the company has ever had, Christiaens says, and the product has been selling very well.
Key Features of Collibra AI Governance
- Manages AI models alongside the same controls used to manage and govern data with the company’s Data Intelligence suite
- Leverages Collibra’s existing data security and privacy capabilities to ensure that data used to train AI models doesn’t violate policies, and that personally identifiable information (PII) is inaccessible from AI apps
- Allows data scientists to collaborate, and allows executives and decision-makers to track the risks that AI apps pose to privacy, IP rights, ethics, and compliance
Certifications and Compliance
Collibra has received ISO 42001 certification, the first standard for certifying an AI management system. The company has also signed the European Commission’s AI Pact, demonstrating its commitment to promoting AI transparency, fairness, and accountability. Additionally, Collibra has released an EU AI Act Assessment Tool to help guide customers on their EU AI Act compliance journey.
Conclusion
The market is just starting to heat up in AI governance. IDC predicts that the market will ramp up significantly in 2026, and so the vendors that want to lead in this space, such as Collibra, are preparing now. "We like to think of the future of this category as a unified governance approach, which includes data and which includes AI," Christiaens says.
FAQs
Q: What is AI governance?
A: AI governance refers to the process of managing and governing artificial intelligence (AI) models and applications to ensure that they are used responsibly and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
Q: Why is AI governance important?
A: AI governance is important because it helps to minimize the risk of adoption of AI and maximize the return on investment by increasing visibility into how AI models work and automating governance workflows that surround them.
Q: What is Collibra AI Governance?
A: Collibra AI Governance is a product designed to manage AI models alongside the same controls used to manage and govern data with the company’s Data Intelligence suite. It leverages Collibra’s existing data security and privacy capabilities to ensure that data used to train AI models doesn’t violate policies, and that personally identifiable information (PII) is inaccessible from AI apps.
