Synthetic data

Abstract

The rise of data-driven businesses poses a number of significant challenges for contemporary organisations. These include legal and ethical considerations arising from the use of personal data, the growing challenges of information security, and the difficulty managing the volume of data generated in business transactions of different kinds. The exponential growth of data continues unabated with global data volumes reaching 181 zettabytes by 2025, and with 90% of the world’s data generated in the last two years alone. This massive growth can be mainly attributed to data gathered by Internet of Things (IoT) and related sensory devices, in addition to data generated through the human use of digital tools and applications. Given this abundance of real-world data, in what context could synthetic data be necessary? This paper highlights the growing organisational use of synthetic data and explores where and how it can be optimally used. It examines the ethical aspects of synthetic data usage, the need to garner public perception and acceptance, and the key aspects of traceability, accountability and risk mitigation.