Data Privacy and AI: Opaque’s Solution for Confidential Computing
When it comes to data privacy and AI, companies are in a tough spot. On the one hand, businesses are eager to take advantage of technological advances in AI, including the development of autonomous AI agents. But on the other hand, the potential risks around data leakage and violating data regulations are putting a damper on the AI enthusiasm. The folks at confidential computing startup Opaque say a new release of their platform could provide a solution.
GenAI Holdups
The potential impact of GenAI is huge. A 2023 study by McKinsey concluded that the tech could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion to the world’s economy every year. Despite the massive potential, only a small fraction of GenAI applications are actually making it out of the development and testing phase. Numerous surveys of companies have highlighted security and privacy as primary reasons for this GenAI holdup.
Transparency and Opacity
Following the development of MC2, the San Francisco-based company’s first commercial product was a gateway that sat between the GenAI application and the third-party large language model (LLM), and prevented sensitive data contained in the GenAI prompts and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) pipeline from leaking back into the LLM.
Opaque’s Platform
Today, Opaque is offering a confidential computing platform where customers can build and run their AI applications with full data privacy and security guarantees. Customers that use Opaque’s platform get built-in encryption of data, encryption key management, column- and row-level access control, and tamper-proof audit trails, among other capabilities.
The Future of Data
AI is fundamentally a product of data. Without high-quality data to train or fine-tune an AI model, the odds of building a good model are somewhere between slim and none. And while the amount of data the world is generating continues its upward trajectory, data scientists are finding that they have less access to data, not more. Leung hopes that confidential computing will turn that trend around.
Conclusion
Opaque’s new platform provides a solution for companies to run their AI workloads on encrypted data, ensuring data privacy and security. With its confidential computing architecture, Opaque is helping to resolve the tension between the supply of data and the demand, and is positioned to be a leader in this emerging space.
FAQs
Q: What is Opaque’s platform?
A: Opaque’s platform is a confidential computing platform that provides full data privacy and security guarantees for AI applications.
Q: What are the benefits of Opaque’s platform?
A: Opaque’s platform offers built-in encryption of data, encryption key management, column- and row-level access control, and tamper-proof audit trails, among other capabilities.
Q: Who is Opaque’s target market?
A: Opaque’s target market is big Fortune 500 firms that want to roll out AI-powered applications while navigating strict data regulations and complex back-office systems.
Q: What is the future of data?
A: The future of data is uncertain, but with the advancement of confidential computing, it is believed that it will provide a solution to the tension between the supply of data and the demand.
