Sixty-five Percent of Organizations Suffer from Data Bias, According to Progress Research Study

Most organizations understand the importance of mitigating data bias and believe it is prevalent within their businesses but struggle with how to address it effectively

Progress, the trusted provider of application development and infrastructure software, today announced the results of its global survey, “Data Bias: The Hidden Risk of AI”. Conducted by independent research firm, Insight Avenue, the Progress survey is based on interviews with more than 640 business and IT professionals, director level and above, who use data to make decisions and are using or plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to support their decision making.

Biases are often inherited by cultural and personal experiences. When data is collected and used in the training of machine learning models, the models inherit the bias of the people building them, producing unexpected and potentially harmful outcomes. Yet, despite the potential legal and financial pitfalls associated with data bias, there is a lack of understanding around the training, processes and technology needed to tackle data bias successfully.

The Progress survey indicated that 78% of business and IT decision makers believe data bias will become a bigger concern as AI/ML use increases, but only 13% are currently addressing it and have an ongoing evaluation process. The biggest barriers they see are lack of awareness of potential biases, understanding how to identify bias as well as the lack of available expert resources, such as having access to data scientists.

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The survey findings also show:

• 66% of organizations anticipate becoming more reliant on AI/ML decision making, in the coming years.
• 65% believe there is currently data bias in their organization.
• 77% believe they need to be doing more to address data bias.
• 51% consider lack of awareness and understating of biases as a barrier to addressing it.

“Every day, bias can negatively impact business operations and decision making – from governance and lost customer trust to financial implications and potential legal and ethical exposure,” said John Ainsworth, EVP and General Manager, Application and Data Platform, Progress. “We put our customers at the center of everything we do and as we explore all that AI/ML can do, we want to ensure our customers are armed with the right information to make the best decisions to drive their business forward.”

Commissioned by Progress, the survey, “Data Bias: The Hidden Risk of AI,” was conducted by Insight Avenue, a UK-based research firm, specializing in business-to-business technology research. Results are based on interviews with business and IT professionals located across the Americas, Europe and Asia, focused on the use of data in decision making. These professionals come from organizations with over 500 employees to better understand the overall awareness of data bias, how it was impacting businesses and what companies were doing to address it.

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