Apple to Use AI to Crack “Dark Data”

It is estimated that approximately 4.4 zettabytes of data existed in 2013, with that figure expected to rise to at least 44 zettabytes by 2020. IBM estimates that 90 per cent of the data that currently exists was produced in the past two years alone.

Between 70 and 80 per cent of that enormous amount of data is “dark”. This means that it is unstructured, without any suitable labels or indexing information, with the result that it cannot be used or accessed for analytics. 

Lattice Data was founded in 2015 as part of the Stanford DeepDive dark data project and seeks to turn this unstructured and essentially useless data into structured, useful data. By providing it with organisation and structure, the data can be used in countless ways. Apple has clearly seen a great value in this process.

This marks a continuation of rising investment in AI, where Apple is among company such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. According to Tractica, the AI market was worth $643.7 million in 2016, and will double in value throughout 2017. By 2025, it is projected to be worth $36.8 billion. 

References: Tech Crunch       Lattice Data        Tractica