The Power Of All-Data And Any-AI: Embracing The Future
Don Murray is cofounder of Safe Software and has spent his career helping organizations bring life to data to make better decisions.
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Technology is changing faster than ever before in the world of data and AI. Organizations everywhere are now learning how to leverage the quickly changing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) space. It is becoming clear that they must use all their data with AI to stay ahead of their competition. We are at the beginning of a new era of advancement.
Within the first few weeks of 2025 alone, we had OpenAI announce their 'operator' agent, and DeepSeek was released, creating great excitement throughout the industry. The pace of change in AI is relentless and promises a future where data and AI are used to tackle more and more challenges that before were not feasible. I was recently at an AI event hosted by Microsoft where a speaker said, 'The best way to leverage AI is to give it all your data.' Organizations have all kinds of data that they have been creating for decades. They have structured, unstructured, spatial and everything in between. Now with AI, we are seeing more ways to get value out of this data than ever before. To do so, you need to have the ability to embrace Any-AI as the best AI for a task depends on the data and what you want to do with it.
Organizations must be able to not only leverage Any-AI in this fast-paced world but they must also be able to pivot quickly to embrace new AI technology. AI is moving too fast to be locked into one AI platform. Choice is is critical.
Different AI services have different strengths. Ultimately, there will be winners and losers in the AI space. Having a choice and the ability to pivot quickly will help you sleep at night knowing that no matter what AI services are released, you will be able to easily embrace them.
Data is the foundation of innovation. Every challenge that we face as a society and in business is dependent on data. Those that leverage their data the best make better decisions. Being able to leverage all-data types enables organizations to use all their data to drive meaningful results. Data and AI are inseparable.
The importance of being able to leverage Any-AI is critical to any fast-paced agile organization. Being trapped with the wrong technology is something everyone strives to avoid. The best AI for any problem depends not just on the data but also on the problem.
There is no such thing as one AI for all problems. The AI landscape is evolving quickly, especially when it comes to generative AI. New, faster and cheaper models emerge constantly. In this world agility is critical for organizations.
Recent advancements in GenAI highlight this rapid evolution. Once, deploying AI models required massive resources and costs. Cheaper, faster models are being released at a pace that is hard to keep up with.
By being committed to Any-AI strategies, organizations can harness the best model for the challenges they have. Whether it's OpenAI, Google's Vertex AI, Amazon's Bedrock, DeepSeek, Ollama, Hugging Face or a domain-specific model. More models are coming all the time. The ability to pivot and adapt is critical.
Future-proofing organizations need to be future proof. They must be able to use all their data and be able to work with the best AI, always. The organizations that do this will thrive in our rapidly changing world.
This future-proof approach is not just about keeping up—it's about leading the way. You must be able to:
1. Integrate diverse AI models. Seamlessly connect with any AI tool, from language models to domain-specific AI.
2. Adapt to new data. Handle evolving data types without disruption.
3. Automate workflows. Leverage AI and data to streamline processes and enhance efficiency.
4. Empower decisions. Transform data and AI insights into strategic actions.
5. Stay ahead of innovation. Pivot quickly as new opportunities and technologies arise.
Future-proofing is more than a technical capability—it's a mindset.
From my perspective, in the era of AI, the Any-AI strategy is best, if not the only way forward for resilient, forward-focused organizations. That said, it's worth noting that despite the clear benefits that GenAI are already delivering, nearly any GenAI tool has limitations and no GenAI is (currently) without some degree of inherent risk—ranging from cybersecurity and data privacy concerns, to output accuracy, bias and intellectual property infringement. Part of future-proofing also means carefully evaluating those risks and embedding contingency plans into your AI strategy. When working with an Any-AI strategy, this means evaluating the risks of every AI you're working with—a nontrivial task, but in my opinion, a necessary one.
The path to becoming a future-proof organization requires bold decisions and a commitment to innovation. In the world of data and AI, there is more innovation ahead of us than behind us.
Whether it's integrating the latest AI models, managing new data formats or automating complex workflows, flexibility is key to navigating the future.
Welcome to the world of future proof. It is Day 1.
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