To help build its new artificial data generator, Cary analytics firm SAS Institute announced Tuesday that it has acquired core software from London-based synthetic data provider Hazy.
SAS says this purchase, which is for Hazy’s “key software assets” and not for the entire company, will complement SAS Data Maker, an enterprise platform the company introduced in April and hopes to preview next year.
The deal will see a dozen employees join SAS, which the company completed for an undisclosed sum.
“It is critical that customers across so many different industries have the right level of data access and data quality,” said Alice McClure, SAS senior director of product marketing, in an interview with The News & Observer.
Synthetic data is artificial information that reflects the statistical authenticity of actual data. The benefits may include privacy, supply and cost. The data is not linked to real people, limiting the risks of exposing sensitive personal material. And with the rise of generative artificial intelligence, McClure says more and more SAS consumers are looking to massive data sets to train AI models.
This data can be purchased, but it can be cheaper and more efficient to create.
In a statement Tuesday, SAS Chief Technology Officer Bryan Harris cited a research paper showing that by 2026, 75% of companies will use generative AI to produce fake, representative data sets to better understand their customer base.
“Synthetic data allows customers to innovate and research more deeply, accessing data that was previously inaccessible due to availability, accessibility or quality issues,” said Harris.
Synthetic data is also valuable when organizations want to investigate rare events for which no significant natural statistics are available.
SAS is one of the largest and oldest software companies in the Triangle. James Goodnight co-founded SAS in 1976 and continues to lead the company as CEO. In a statement, Goodnight called the London software company “a pioneer in bringing synthetic data to market as a viable enterprise product.”
Hazy’s software is one of about 25 acquisitions SAS has made in its 48-year history, the company said Tuesday.
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