Data is the fuel of artificial intelligence. It is also a bottleneck for big businesses, because they are reluctant to fully embrace the technology without knowing more about the data used to build A.I. programs. Now, a consortium of companies has developed standards for describing the origin, history and legal rights to data. The standards are essentially a labeling system for where, when and how data was collected and generated, as well as its intended use and restrictions. The data provenance standards, announced on Thursday, have been developed by the Data & Trust Alliance, a nonprofit group made up of two dozen mainly large companies and organizations, including American Express, Humana, IBM, Pfizer, UPS and Walmart, as well as a few start-ups. The alliance members believe the data-labeling system will be similar to the fundamental standards for food safety that require basic information like where food came from, who produced and grew it and who handled the food on its way to a grocery shelf. Greater clarity and more information about the data used in A.I. models, executives say, will bolster corporate confidence in the technology. How widely the proposed standards will be used is uncertain, and much will depend on how easy the standards are to apply and automate. But standards have accelerated the use of every significant technology, from electricity to the internet.

Full report : Nonprofit Data & Trust Alliance, comprising Amex, IBM, Pfizer, UPS, and more, announces AI data provenance standards to help find the origin and rights to data.