Multiple industry surveys and authoritative reports indicate that between 60% and 80% of the total time in AI and machine learning projects is spent on data-related tasks, particularly cleaning, organising, and preparing data, rather than on model training.
A CrowdFlower (Figure Eight) survey found data professionals spend about 60% of their time on these preparatory activities, compared to only 3% on model training. Similar figures are echoed in Forbes and Gartner reports, reinforcing that effective AI depends more on high-quality data preparation than on the modeling step itself.
The truth is, AI is only as good as the data you feed it. Whether you’re a marketing team, a comms department, a public sector organisation or a small business, the messy reality of your data will make or break your AI adoption.
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