Next Generation Artificial Intelligence System Marks The Shift From Big Data To "Gargantuan" Data

On September 24, IBM presented new capabilities of Watson – its artificial intelligence system – related to the interpretation of the increasingly vast amount of data available on consumer and business activities.  Watson, best known for its 2011 Jeopardy! victory against two of the game show's previous champions, consists of an artificial intelligence system that IBM is making available to developers as the core of the next generation of "cognitive" data applications.  The ability to process larger amounts of data only increases the temptation of companies to "keep everything."  This trend not only brings into doubt the adoption of risk mitigation concepts such as "keep only what you need," but also presents substantial challenges in information governance through complicated data classification and mapping.