Data Privacy and ROI on Data Privacy and AI Initiatives Cited as Key Challenges
Collibra, the leader in unified governance for data and AI, today announced the results of a new Harris Poll survey of more than 300 U.S. adults ages 21+ who are employed full-time as data management, privacy and/or AI decision makers at their current companies (“decision-makers” throughout), and found that 86% of respondents cite protecting data privacy as a top concern with 76% of respondents citing ROI on data privacy and AI initiatives across their organization. Notably, eight in 10 decision makers also said that data ownership has changed over the last year with the emergence of AI [85%].
“AI will continue to disrupt and reshape the future of work,” said Collibra Stijn "Stan" Christiaens, co-founder and Chief Data Citizen at Collibra. “As organizations look to integrate AI more into the workplace, it is ever more critical to connect data owners with privacy and compliance teams to balance AI innovation with trust and ensure data privacy.”
Despite concerns around data privacy and ROI, the survey indicates a strong overall momentum towards AI adoption, with 86% of organizations planning to proceed with their AI initiatives. However, this enthusiasm varies by company size. While nearly all large companies (96%) intend to forge ahead with their AI plans despite the evolving landscape, smaller (78%) and medium-sized (79%) organizations are exhibiting a more measured approach.
Our survey also found that nine in 10 employees at larger organizations (1,000+) say their company encourages the use of AI in the workplace and provides the necessary tools to support their work. The same percentage also said that their company has issued an AI use policy or guidelines to their employees.
On a positive note, the new survey also found that nearly nine in 10 decision-makers say that they have a lot or a great deal of trust in their own companies’ approach [88%] to shaping the future of AI, with three quarters [75%] agreeing that their company prioritizes AI training and upskilling, with decision-makers at large companies (1000+ employees) more likely than those at small companies (1-99 employees) to agree (87% vs. 55%).
“As Al continues to be adopted across Corporate America, organizations need to centralize visibility of AI models and agents across AI platforms and ensure traceability between AI use cases and the data that feeds them,” stated Christiaens. “By adopting an approach to AI governance that connects models, data, and policies, organizations can protect critical data while ensuring confidentiality measures.”
For more information and resources on Collibra’s product offerings, please visit collibra.com.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Collibra from February 24-28, 2025, among 303 U.S. adults aged 21+ who are employed full-time, as data management, privacy, and/or Artificial Intelligence (AI) decision-makers (director level or higher) at their current company. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the full sample data is accurate to within +/- 5.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact [email protected].
About Collibra
Collibra frees your data from the constraints of silos by unifying data and AI governance across your entire ecosystem, regardless of source or compute engine, for ultimate flexibility in how you manage data. Our Collibra Platform gives you automated visibility, control and tracing from input through output, and it automates documentation and data traceability for AI use cases to power speed, data observability and safety. Our semantic graph enriches data context with every use, and our intuitive UX brings technical and business users into the fold to access and steward data. Accelerate and strengthen every data and AI use case when everyone in your organization can trust, comply and consume.
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