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:
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.
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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:
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.
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About the author
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
AI data governance is the framework that manages data quality, consent, compliance and auditability before data enters AI systems.
AI decisions reflect the data used as inputs. Governance provides transparency, accountability and trust in automated outcomes.
AI data governance does not eliminate bias in models. It provides governed inputs that allow organizations to identify and address bias more effectively.
Privacy-first governance applies consent validation and compliance controls before data is activated, reducing downstream risk.
Organizations govern their AI systems. Data providers govern the data foundation that feeds those systems.
Latest posts
Tracey Scheppach's new marketing and media practice leverages Tapad's device-level data to help clients achieve "marketing nirvana" NEW YORK and CHICAGO, April 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Tapad, now part of Experian, is the leading provider of unified, cross-screen marketing technology solutions, and Matter More, a next generation marketing and media practice with deep experience in the advanced TV space, announced a strategic partnership to bring together world class digital data and audience development expertise to help marketers improve how they connect with consumers. As consumer behavior continues to expand across multiple devices, today's marketers need robust, comprehensive data solutions to accurately engage the people who matter most to their brands. At the same time, the TV industry has reached an advertising tipping point, capitalizing on the power of device-level data. "Achieving unduplicated reach and frequency across all channels with true addressability, and the ability to measure outcomes, is marketing nirvana," says Tracey Scheppach, CEO and co-founder of Matter More, a new agency built for the modern age. "The best opportunity to deliver 'marketing nirvana,' at scale, is by partnering with Tapad and using their world-class Device Graph to help our clients simply matter more to the people they care about most." "By leveraging our access to rich TV data, we can now measure the actual performance of media across channels," says Marshall Wong, SVP, TV for Tapad. Tapad's proprietary Device Graph™ unifies consumer behavior data across all devices, uncovering the interests, passions and behaviors of the audiences who matter most. As with any data solution, privacy, transparency and trust are crucial to bringing marketers a solid offering that delivers results. "Tapad is excited to partner with Matter More to tap into their knowledge base and experience working with some of the largest brands on TV today," says Kate O'Loughlin, SVP and GM of Tapad's media division. "The time has come to truly unleash the power of device-level data at scale." Contact us today
Globalization affects retailers in a number of ways. Complying with commercial laws wherever they have brick-and-mortar stores is one such impact. Navigating through privacy rules that impact e-commerce efforts is another. There is one blind spot in particular that deserves attention — sending shopping cart abandonment emails. I am often asked, “How are abandonment emails treated under the CAN-SPAM Act? Canada’s stringent Anti-Spam Law (CASL)?” “Can I even send abandonment emails to my Canadian customers?” What are cart abandonment emails? But let’s back up… What is an ‘abandonment’ email anyway? In the email space shopping cart abandonment refers to a particular type of automated mailing used to re-engage an online customer. The most common example is one where a retailer notices that a customer has left an item sitting in their shopping cart, and proceeds to send a reminder with a coupon to complete the order. To fully understand privacy compliance pitfalls with this technique, in the U.S. and beyond, we need to unpack what happens before the abandonment email is sent. Email marketing shopping cart abandonment compliance Abandonment messages are almost always ‘commercial’, particularly if they incentivize a shopper to complete their purchase. In compliance parlance, we call this encouraging the continuation of a commercial activity. In contrast, an order confirmation typically provides factual information about a commercial activity. Under most anti-spam laws, particularly under CASL, marketers need to ensure abandonment messages are not unsolicited. Triggering should account for: Appropriate consent covering email marketing to new or ongoing online relationships. Scrubbing the customer’s email address against your unsubscribe/suppression lists before sending a solicitous message. (This is true under any anti-spam law.) For more information about CASL-compliant consent record keeping and related best practices, you can navigate to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Maintaining compliance with online tracking Abandonment emails rely on online retailers tracking their customers’ activity on their websites and tying online behavior back to the email addresses using the same behavioral targeting technologies as those used to deliver Interest Based Ads. This jump across engagement channels to remarket to customers can raise privacy concerns, so online retailers need to pay attention to their privacy compliance obligations. Cross-channel marketing privacy protections Guidance covering privacy policies and practices issued by the Federal Trade Commission are informative and I encourage you to review these with your law department. If you operate outside the U.S., privacy protection laws like Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) may set out additional obligations with your cross-channel marketing efforts. PIPEDA’s definition of commercial activity, which includes remarketing Privacy Commissioner’s findings under PIPEDA in relation to remarketing Privacy Commissioner’s guidance on online behavioral advertising, the technology of which informs triggered emails Under PIPEDA and similar international privacy regimes, cross-channel marketers will need to (i) clearly and conspicuous inform website visitors that their online activities may result in personalized marketing, (ii) offer a way to opt-out of such tracking, and (iii) obtain individuals’ prior express consent with tracking involving sensitive personal information such as health data How to manage cross-channel marketing compliance risks As privacy protection regimes around the world continue to mature and absorb rules covering marketing, online retailers need to start adding new vocabulary to their privacy compliance lexicon. For example, shopping cart abandonment efforts produce ‘cross-channel re-marketing campaigns triggered by an identifiable individual’s online behavior.’ While this is a mouthful to say, viewing your engagement efforts through this lens will help you manage compliance risks. Experian can help you navigate compliance risks Our privacy-first approach to data is trusted across industries around the world. As a leader in the industry, we are here to help you leverage the power of data while maintaining the highest standards of consumer privacy compliance and legal guidelines. With almost 30 years in business, we are here to help you confidently create and launch data-driven marketing strategies. Contact us today to get started! Please note: Cross-Channel Marketing does not give legal advice on electronic marketing regulations or privacy laws. To mitigate risk to your business, please consult with your legal counsel on the law and your corporate policy. Contact us today
Partnership combines customer connections and cross-device scale to deliver more strategic customer insights NEW YORK AND CHICAGO — March 16, 2017 – Signal, the global leader in customer identity, today announced a partnership with Tapad, now part of Experian and the leading provider of unified, cross-screen marketing technology solutions. This global integration extends device connectivity for Signal’s clients across North America, APAC and EMEA by leveraging Tapad’s proprietary Device GraphTM. With Signal’s Customer Identity Solution, brands benefit from more visibility of known customers, lower costs to reach those customers and decreased expenses and data loss that often results from using multiple vendors. Integrating with Tapad’s Device Graph, which connects billions of devices, enables Signal clients to build an even broader view of their known customers across multiple devices. This integration combines Signal’s customer identity scale with Tapad’s device scale to expand the reach of addressable media channels and enhance customer journey insights across touchpoints. Tapad and Signal were able to drive incremental device connections for more than 65 percent of customer profiles, linking an average of 6.8 browsers and devices per customer. With this combined data set, Signal clients can expand their authenticated view of a customer to all associated devices and realize more strategic insights into their high-value users. The partnership also allows Signal’s clients to integrate in real-time with Tapad’s media platform, Unify. This proprietary technology enables advertisers to make real-time activation and buying decisions with maximum scale, as well as automated reporting and measurement. “Continuously recognizing customers across devices instantly and in a privacy-safe way is essential for marketers to stay competitive,” said Marc Kiven, founder and CRO of Signal. “We are thrilled to enter this unique, global partnership with Tapad, enabling our clients to access their technology and more effectively reach customers in real-time and at scale.” “Being able to leverage a persistent view of customer connections across devices is a huge challenge for brands,” said Pierre Martensson, SVP and GM of Tapad’s global data division. “With Tapad, Signal is now able to connect with the billions of existing data points in our device graph to help clients better understand customer behavior and realize even stronger customer engagement.” Contact us today