Data and AI Once Again Take Center Stage During SAS Innovate. The New Products Focus on Accelerating Decision-Making, Without Losing Sight of Transparency and Governance
The annual SAS high mass Innovate has started again. On the opening day, SAS presents new additions to Viya and other AI solutions. These primarily build on the announcements SAS made last year. SAS’s philosophy has not suddenly changed: productivity should not come at the expense of reliable technology.
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SAS Focuses on AI Agents, But Does It in Its Own Way
The Viya platform is the glue that holds the SAS portfolio together. The updates SAS announces this year build on the novelties already shown last year. Tools such as Viya Workbench and Copilot are gradually becoming more widely available, as is Data Maker, a tool for generating synthetic data that can be fed to AI models without privacy concerns.
Like every self-respecting technology company, SAS is jumping on the AI agent bandwagon. The company does this in its own way, focusing on making the technology reliable. These AI agents offer a balance between human supervision and AI autonomy. A pre-built AI agent to help companies prepare data for more efficient model deployment is on the roadmap.
Matter of trust
In SAS’s vision, agents make simple decisions, while complex decisions remain the responsibility of humans. By integrating a governance framework, these agents ensure transparency and accountability in decision-making processes to achieve reliable outcomes. This reduces the risk of biased results in decisions that impact people.
To anchor trust in the decision-making process, SAS is also introducing the AI Governance Map. With this tool, organizations can assess their AI maturity and navigate the complexity of AI implementation. For SAS, speed should not come at the expense of reliability.
Ready-to-Use AI
SAS Viya is the platform for do-it-yourselfers, but not every company has the knowledge and expertise. The Models offering, which also saw the light of day last year, is intended for companies with two left hands. Under this flag, SAS is launching a first catalog of ‘ready-to-use’ models that can be deployed without fuss.
The first launched models cover various domains, such as manufacturing, healthcare, the public sector, and finance. For example, SAS has released models for strategic supply chain optimization, sales tax compliance, and medication adherence risks in healthcare. This year, the catalog will be further expanded with new models for more sectors.
Quantum AI
Quantum AI sounds futuristic, but according to SAS, quantum computing is gradually becoming a reality. SAS presents a global survey showing that more than 60 percent of business leaders are engaged in or investing in quantum technologies. SAS collaborates with major players in the quantum industry such as IBM and D-Wave to make quantum applicable. It advocates for a hybrid approach, where quantum is used in combination with traditional computing.