Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence and many organizations are asking the wrong first question. Before worrying about models, prompts, or automation, we need to ask whether our data is actually ready. Years of inconsistent definitions, missing information, duplicate records, weak governance, and unclear ownership do not magically disappear when AI arrives. In many cases, these long-standing data challenges become more visible, more expensive, and more risky. New compliance challenges will also impact our outcomes.

Rather than treating AI as a technology-only problem, we will focus on the people, systems, processes, and decisions that determine whether AI project produce value or create new costs and risks.