Loading...

Trustworthy AI starts with data governance

by Jeremy Meade, VP, Marketing Data Product & Operations 5 min read January 14, 2026

At A Glance

Trustworthy AI depends on AI data governance. Automated systems rely on governed data that is accurate, fresh, consented, and interoperable at every stage. Without governance at the data foundation, organizations lack visibility, accountability and confidence in AI-driven decisions. Responsible automation begins with privacy-first data governance that supports transparency, compliance, and long-term sustainability.

Why AI data governance determines trust in automated decisions

AI is reshaping audience strategy, media investment, and measurement. Automated systems now make more decisions at scale and in real time. Trust in those decisions depends on the data that informs them.

AI data governance provides the framework that allows organizations to answer foundational questions like:

  • Which information or inputs guided this decision?
  • Is the model respecting consumer rights?
  • Could bias be influencing the outcome?
  • If AI made the wrong call, how would we know?

Without governed data, these questions remain unanswered. AI data governance creates accountability by establishing quality controls, consent validation and auditability before data enters automated systems.

Most organizations are still building their readiness to govern data at scale. Many vendors highlight “fast insights” or “transparent reporting,” but few can support true data governance — the auditability, privacy-by-design, quality controls, and continuous compliance required for responsible AI.

That foundation is where responsible automation begins. And it’s why trust in AI starts with data governance.

Responsible automation begins with governed data

Automation produces reliable outcomes only when data is accurate, current, consented and interoperable. AI data governance makes responsible automation possible by applying controls before data reaches models, workflows, or activation channels.

AI systems may interpret context, predict signals, and act in real time. But no model, logic layer, or LLM can be responsible if the data feeding it isn’t governed responsibly from the start.

This raises a core question: How do we ensure AI systems behave responsibly, at scale, across every channel and workflow?

The answer begins with trust. And trust begins with AI data governance.

Governing the data foundation for responsible AI

Experian’s role in AI readiness begins at the data foundation. Our focus is on rigorously governing the data foundation so our clients have inputs they can trust. AI data governance at Experian includes:

Model governance reviews before releasing new modeled attributes

Feature-level checks ensuring no prohibited or sensitive signals are included

Compliance-aware rebuilding and re-scoring, incorporating opt-outs and regulatory changes

Validated delivery, ensuring attributes reflect the most current opt-outs, deletes, and compliance requirements

By governing data at the source, we give our clients a transparent, accurate, and compliant starting point. Clients maintain responsibility for bias review within their own AI or LLM systems — but they can only perform those reviews effectively when the inputs are governed from the start.

This is how AI data governance supports responsible automation downstream.

Experian's 2026 Digital trends and predictions report

2026 Digital trends and predictions report

Our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report is available now and reveals five trends that will define 2026. From curation becoming the standard in programmatic to AI moving from hype to implementation, each trend reflects a shift toward more connected, data-driven marketing. The interplay between them will define how marketers will lead in 2026.

Privacy-by-design strengthens AI data governance

Privacy gaps compound quickly when AI is involved. Once data enters automated workflows, errors or compliance issues become harder, and sometimes impossible, to correct. AI data governance addresses this risk through privacy-first design.

Experian privacy-first AI data governance through:

  • Consent-based, regulated identity resolution
  • A signal-agnostic identity foundation that avoids exposing personal identifiers
  • Ongoing validation and source verification before every refresh and delivery
  • Compliance applied to each delivery, with opt-outs and deletes reflected immediately
  • Governed attributes provided to clients, ensuring downstream applications remain compliant as data and regulations evolve

Experian doesn’t govern our client’s AI. We govern the data their AI depends on, giving them confidence that what they load into any automated system meets the highest privacy and compliance standards.

Good data isn’t just accurate or fresh. Good data is governed data.

How AI data governance supports responsible automation at scale

With AI data governance in place, organizations can build AI workflows that behave responsibly, predictably, and in alignment with compliance standards.

Responsible automation emerges through four interconnected layers:

1. Input

Privacy-first, governed data: accurate, consented, continuously updated, and compliant.

2. Enrichment

Predictive and contextual insights built from governed data, ensuring downstream intelligence reflects current and compliant information.

3. Orchestration

Reliable, AI-powered workflows where governed data inputs ensures consistency in audience selection, activation, and measurement at scale.

4. Guardrails

Transparent, responsible innovation. Clients apply their own model governance, explainability, and oversight supported by the visibility they have into Experian’s governed inputs.

Together, these layers show how data governance enables AI governance.

AI integrity starts with AI data governance

Automation is becoming widely accessible, but responsible AI still depends on governed data.

Experian provides AI data governance to ensure the data that powers your AI workflows is accurate, compliant, consented, and refreshed with up-to-date opt-out and regulatory changes. That governance carries downstream, giving our clients confidence that their automated systems remain aligned with consumer expectations and regulatory requirements.

We don’t build your AI. We enable it — by delivering the governed data it needs.

Experian brings identity, insight, and privacy-first governance together to help marketers reach people with relevance, respect, and simplicity.

Responsible AI starts with responsible data. AI data governance is the foundation that supports everything that follows.

Get started

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.


About the author

Jeremy Meade, VP, Marketing Data & Product Operations

Jeremy Meade

VP, Marketing Data Product & Operations, Experian

Jeremy Meade is VP, Marketing Data Product & Operations at Experian Marketing Services. With over 15 years of experience in marketing data, Jeremy has consistently led data product, engineering, and analytics functions. He has also played a pivotal role in spearheading the implementation of policies and procedures to ensure compliance with state privacy regulations at two industry-leading companies.


FAQs about AI data governance

What is AI data governance?

AI data governance is the framework that manages data quality, consent, compliance and auditability before data enters AI systems.

Why does AI data governance matter?

AI decisions reflect the data used as inputs. Governance provides transparency, accountability and trust in automated outcomes.

Does AI data governance prevent bias?

AI data governance does not eliminate bias in models. It provides governed inputs that allow organizations to identify and address bias more effectively.

How does privacy-first design support AI data governance?

Privacy-first governance applies consent validation and compliance controls before data is activated, reducing downstream risk.

Who is responsible for AI governance?

Organizations govern their AI systems. Data providers govern the data foundation that feeds those systems.


Latest posts

Loading…
Forbes: Building your personal brand? Try these 12 expert-recommended strategies

Everyone knows that it’s important for businesses to have a clearly defined brand. In the modern world, the personal brand has become just as important, and many professionals are trying to build up their public reputation, expertise and industry authority. In the digital age, there are many different methods and channels you can use to build your personal brand, but some are more efficient than others. According to Forbes Agency Council, here are some of the most effective ways to develop an authentic personal brand.1. Give More Than You Receive Whatever you do, always aim at giving more than you receive. When you build your network, try to bring value to each new person that you meet. When you get featured in some media, see what you can do for them in return. This is the best strategy because actions speak louder than words. People will remember you for what you are, not what your website is. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS 2. Define What You Stand For, Then Align Your Actions Define your mission. What is your purpose? What do you want to accomplish, and what is your key message? Once you have answers to those questions, use that mission as a guiding North Star to consistently reinforce your personal brand every day. This will come across in how you lead, how you interact with employees and peers, how you communicate, and how you give back to the community. - Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad 3. Develop A Creative Positioning Statement It’s all about positioning your company. You need to have creative positioning statements about who you are and what your company is doing to benefit its clients. Clients want resolutions to their problems, and that’s where you come to the rescue. It’s either sold or ignored. - Cagan Sean Yuksel, GRAFX CO. 4. Speak At An Event Becoming a keynote speaker gives you access to the things you need to elevate your brand: influencer status, large audiences and media profile. But access doesn’t equal attention. While speaking gives you the platform, you need to have something compelling to say. You’ll need a differentiated message, unique presentation style and a great agent to make this strategy successful. - Andrew Au, Intercept Group 5. Focus On A Specific Audience The most effective way to build your personal brand is to create content specifically for a very specific group of people. Create relevant content that details solutions to the unique needs of this audience so that it spreads quickly due to its hyper-relevance. This creates authority and credibility for your personal brand and helps you stand out as being the most relevant expert in your field. - Adam Guild, Placepull 6. Be Ruthlessly Consistent Developing a personal brand requires ruthless consistency in your subject matter and how you present yourself to the world. I go back to the early days of marketing blogs. In those days, some bloggers were all over the map with content. The ones who were consistent with their audience and their goals are the ones who had staying power. They became the authors, speakers and consultants. - Scott Baradell, Idea Grove 7. Follow Through Just like a traditional brand, the quality of your offering helps to build your brand. If you are clear on what you can and cannot deliver and always follow through on your word, your personal brand reputation will precede you and will be lifted by the recommendations of others. - Kieley Taylor, GroupM 8. Build A Solid Reputation “Personal brand” is just a new-age name for reputation. Doing your job exceptionally well, going above and beyond, treating people with respect and kindness, having a point of view—essentially any action that builds a solid professional reputation does the very same for your personal brand. - Jess Cook, TMV Group 9. Define Your Voice Establish your unique voice and personal point of view and stick to it in all you do and all you say. Personal brands must be consistent and have consistency in messaging, attitude and behavior. Express your personal brand through comments on articles, at significant events and important platforms where it can best showcase and support your personal point of view and brand persona. - Pat Fiore, FIORE 10. Create And Share Video Content Video is hard for many people. That’s why it can be your competitive advantage if you do it. Video allows you to be seen, heard and felt emotionally in a way that no other medium can. You may say, “That’s not for me” and that’s fine, but good luck competing with those who embrace it. Barriers to video are so low that building a personal brand without it seems as if you are hiding something. - A. Lee Judge, Content Monsta 11. Share Your Point of View In Everything You Do There are a finite number of topics that make for interesting discussion in our industry, so having a point of view and sharing it through crafted content is vital for building your personal brand. You don’t have to be controversial, necessarily, but considering themes and topics and providing honest commentary that demonstrates experience is the quickest way to build your reputation. - David Harrison, EVINS 12. Stay True To You The most effective way to build your personal brand is to be true to who you are. If you are wildly creative and outgoing, show that in your branding! Don’t hold back in your content; post that crazy Instagram picture that shows the world how you think. If you are conservative, then own that. This passion for who you really are—and what your company really is—authentically shines through. - Katy Boos, Remix Marketing Inc. Contact us today

Published: May 06, 2019 by Experian Marketing Services

OpenX introduces first people-based marketing solution for the open web

OpenAudience™ will provide marketers the ability to easily plan and buy advertising for every digitally addressable consumer across the open web LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — For the past decade, the most effective way to advertise in digital media has been on Facebook and Google. Marketers in the U.S. now spend two-thirds of all digital ad spend on the "walled gardens", despite the fact that they receive less than 36 percent of total consumer time spent online. According to eMarketer, addressing this massive asymmetry in advertising – where tens of billions of dollars are over allocated to the walled gardens – is the top concern of marketers in 2019. While programmatic technology has become the primary monetization system for the open web, it has lacked the simplicity and efficacy of walled gardens. Today, OpenX is changing that paradigm by bringing true people-based marketing to the open web for the first time with the introduction of OpenAudience. OpenAudience will provide marketers and publishers with an unprecedented, unified level of knowledge about consumer audiences – through a platform built on privacy by design principles that brings the efficiency and efficacy of walled garden advertising to the open web. OpenAudience is powered by a comprehensive proprietary data asset and supplemented by integrated partnerships with recognized leaders in data and identity like LiveRamp, Tapad, a part of Experian, and more. For marketers, OpenAudience will provide the ability to plan and buy people-based marketing campaigns that combine the impact and ease of use of Facebook advertising with the scale of the open web. OpenAudience is currently in active partner testing with multiple marketers in the U.S., including Fortune 500 financial service and consumer personal care companies, along with one of America's largest online entertainment outlets, and will be generally available to the broader market in Q3 of 2019. For publishers, OpenAudience will deliver user-based knowledge that empowers them to value and sell advertising with unparalleled precision. With the ability to automatically place consumers into high-value audience segments drawn from the more than 240M U.S. Monthly Active Users OpenX reaches across the open web, OpenAudience allows publishers to maximize revenue like never before. "OpenAudience is a natural evolution of programmatic advertising, combining the unified knowledge of people-based audiences with the transactional power of programmatic to create a planning, buying and advertising experience that is unlike anything else in the market today," said Todd Parsons, chief product officer at OpenX. "No exchange in the market today has enabled a unified view of publisher audiences," said Travis Clinger, vice president of strategic initiatives, LiveRamp. "Now, OpenX is democratizing identity across all publishers on the open web, helping marketers to plan and buy audiences the way they do inside walled gardens. We are thrilled to be a key component of OpenAudience." "OpenAudience is an ambitious move into people-based marketing, offering marketers an unprecedented walled garden-like experience on the open web," said Chris Feo, senior vice president of global data licensing and strategic partnerships at Tapad. "As a fellow pioneer in the industry, Tapad is proud that OpenX chose to leverage The Tapad Graph™ to allow marketers and publishers in North America access to our leading digital identity resolution insights across devices." For more information, or to request a place in the private testing phase of OpenAudience, visit: http://www.openx.com, or contact your OpenX account representative today. About OpenX Nobody understands the open web better than OpenX. As the world's largest independent advertising exchange, OpenX makes the efficient people-based marketing buying experience of the walled gardens available to all marketers across the open web. OpenX works with more than 30,000 advertisers across every screen and device, reaching nearly one billion consumers – including a quarter billion unique consumers in the US – and processing more than one trillion transactions globally each day. To date, OpenX has helped deliver more than $3 billion in total monetization to publishers. That's the Power of Open™. Contact us today

Published: May 02, 2019 by Experian Marketing Services

Mobile marketing: What UK ad-supported streaming services can learn from Hulu

Tom Rolph, VP EMEA at Tapad, part of Experian, says that ad-sponsored streaming services can be successful if they can deliver a higher quality viewer experience than other streaming services. Last week, Hulu, the streaming service acquired by Fox and now owned 60 per cent by Disney, announced it will be regularising its ad loads. The streaming service will be bringing ad breaks down to 90 seconds in an effort to deliver a better viewer experience. This is a positive move from Hulu and one which other ad-supported streaming services should follow in order to be successful in a competitive market. Previously ad breaks on Hulu could vary wildly, from 180 seconds to 240 seconds, due to existing deals with its three owners: Disney, Comcast and AT&T. Over in the UK, we haven’t suffered from quite as inconsistent an approach as in the US, but there is still viewer frustration with the ad experience on ITV Hub and All4, where the problem tends to be over exposure of the same ad. Therefore, this move to standardise ad break lengths for streaming platforms is one that should be embraced on both sides of the pond. An important shift in this space will be to limit the number of ads during each show, but have better ad targeting to minimise repetitive advertising and increase the ROI of ad spend. All of which can be accomplished by investing in identity resolution products that can support CTV devices. Last year Ofcom found that in the UK subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon and NOW TV have risen above those to traditional pay TV services. With Netflix and Amazon both ad-free and NOW TV only a limited ad funded model, it’s clear that there is a growing appetite for ad-free viewing models. A fact that is only further supported when you consider the role of the BBC and BBC iPlayer. But the picture isn’t entirely negative for ad-funded models. There is demand for great content on ad-funded services in the UK, with ITV Hub boasting over 1bn requests and 540m hours of TV watched. The ITV Hub mobile app has also been downloaded on over 27m devices across the country – with over 22m people now registered to ITV Hub database, including more than half of Britain’s 16-24 year olds. However, to continue to attract and retain younger viewers, the experience will have to improve. There are several areas where ad-supported streaming providers need to improve in order to remain top players in this space: Ad experienceAs explored above, both volume and repetition of ads can be a turn off for viewers, but with Brits already spending a total of £303.16m every month on TV streaming services, according to Finder.com, there is potential for free, ad-funded models to flourish as people hit a limit on what they are willing to spend. There are already signs of improvement with the ad experience, with ITV just signing a deal with Amobee to allow for addressable ads on ITV Hub, while Sky’s AdSmart technology remains best in class and has now crossed over the pond to be used by Comcast stablemate NBC. Server reliabilityA cursory search finds little evidence of ongoing reliability problems with Netflix, but much evidence of problems with ITV Hub and All4, which are both prone to crashing. To compete with bigger players with massive server farms, server capacity needs to be tackled. This is especially true when it comes to live events, where many people will recall ITV Hub’s famous fails during the World Cup. While even some of the larger players have had similar streaming issues (for example, Amazon’s move into live sports streaming when they had to pull UK streaming of the US Open Tennis due to user complaints), viewing experience should be prioritised as the space gets increasingly competitive. Getting the content rightAmazon and Netflix have huge content budgets, but UK broadcasters remain strong in this regard, Channel 4 has enjoyed viewing figures of 7.5m for the Great British Bake Off, while ITV pulled in 13.7m for I’m A Celebrity. By building on UK-specific content that speaks to UK audiences, ad-supported streaming services can continue to pull in more viewers. Mobile accessMore and more Brits are choosing to watch TV content on their smartphone or tablet, according to UKOM-approved comScore data. In fact, 6.5m adults visited the BBC iPlayer app to watch video on either a smartphone or tablet, edging out Netflix which attracted 5.8m Getting the experience right on mobile, with the option to download content so it can be viewed in areas of low or no signal, is key.If UK ad-supported TV stations can crack these key areas for their Connected TV offering then they will be set up to succeed and offer a true home-grown alternative to the US streaming giants. Full article here. Contact us today

Published: May 02, 2019 by Experian Marketing Services

Subscribe to our newsletter

Enter your name and email for the latest updates

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

About Experian Marketing Services

At Experian Marketing Services, we use data and insights to help brands have more meaningful interactions with people. As leaders in the evolution of the advertising landscape, Experian Marketing Services can help you identify your customers and the right potential customers, uncover the most appropriate communication channels, develop messages that resonate, and measure the effectiveness of marketing activities and campaigns.

Visit our website

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay up to date on the latest industry news and receive expert tips from our marketing experts.
Subscribe now!