Google Patent Straightens Out AI Training Data

Google is developing tools to keep its data straight. 

The tech giant has applied to patent a system for “managing artificial intelligence and machine learning datasets in cloud storage” that properly organizes datasets for AI training. 

Google’s patent essentially tackles data hygiene, or the concept of arranging data efficiently to avoid wasted storage space, security concerns and access-control problems. 

“Copying data to a separate storage for each training iteration can cause increased latency, and redundant data duplication,” Google said in the filing. It also “increases privacy issues, which is especially troublesome when the dataset contains sensitive, personally identifiable information.” 

Google’s remedy relies on “bookmarks,” or references linking to different pieces of data. Instead of copy and pasting data from one place to another, which can create a bunch of messy duplicates, the bookmarks create virtual groupings that reference the data used in training. 

The bookmarking system allows datasets to be grouped, shared and managed for machine learning training without putting the underlying data itself at risk. 

Cloud computing and AI are massive parts of Google’s business: In the most recent quarter, the company brought in $13 billion in cloud revenue, up 32% from the previous year’s quarter, beating Wall Street’s expectations. And earlier this month, OpenAI announced a partnership to use Google Cloud to host ChatGPT. 

With the growing reliance on cloud platforms to build and develop AI, finding ways to properly manage the flow of data is critical. As Google continues to fight for cloud relevance with other hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, patents like this could help instill trust.