Online Reporter
Godfrey Nyoni
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) is often described as the technology that will define the future.
From healthcare and education to cybersecurity and business operations, AI is changing how people work, communicate and make decisions.
Yet behind every AI system lies something even more valuable than the technology itself: data.
Every day, billions of people generate enormous amounts of information through websites, smartphones, social media platforms, online shopping, digital payments and cloud services. Each click, search, purchase, message and interaction creates data that can be collected, analysed and transformed into valuable insight.
This raises an increasingly important question in the digital age: who really benefits from all this data?
Many people compare data to oil because of its economic value.
Like oil, data must be collected, processed and refined before it becomes useful.
Raw data on its own has limited worth.
However, when AI analyses large amounts of information, it can identify patterns, predict outcomes, automate decisions and create opportunities that would be impossible to achieve manually.
Data has effectively become the fuel powering the modern digital economy.
Ordinary internet users are the original source of much of this data.
Every online search, website visit, social media interaction and digital transaction contributes information that trains and improves AI systems.
Users generate the raw material driving many of the world’s most powerful technologies. However, while users create much of the data, they rarely receive direct financial benefit from it.
Instead, they gain indirect advantages such as free online services, personalised recommendations and faster access to information.
This has sparked growing debate about whether the current distribution of value is fair and whether individuals deserve greater control over the information they generate.
Businesses are among the largest beneficiaries of data-driven technologies.
Organisations use AI to understand customer behaviour, identify market trends, improve products and services, reduce operational costs and make better-informed decisions.
Data allows businesses to move beyond guesswork and act on real-world evidence.
An online retailer can analyse purchasing patterns to recommend products more effectively.
A financial institution can detect fraud earlier.
A telecommunications company can predict network problems before they affect customers.
In each case, data becomes a strategic asset that strengthens competitiveness.
The companies that develop AI systems also gain enormous value from data.
AI improves through exposure to large amounts of high-quality information.
The more data available, the better AI models become at recognising patterns and solving complex problems.
This is why the world’s largest technology companies invest heavily in collecting, organising and processing data — access to large datasets translates directly into stronger AI capabilities and greater market influence.
Cloud providers and hosting companies occupy another important position in the data ecosystem.
Although they may not own customer information directly, they provide the infrastructure that allows data to be stored, processed and analysed.
As more businesses adopt AI-powered services, hosting providers are becoming increasingly influential players in the digital economy.
Governments and public institutions can also benefit from responsible data use.
Data-driven insights can improve healthcare planning, education systems, public service delivery and cybersecurity strategies.
When used ethically, data supports better decision-making and more efficient use of public resources.
However, government use of data equally raises important questions about privacy, accountability and citizen rights.
Public trust is essential when large amounts of personal information are being collected and analysed.
One of the most serious concerns in the AI era is that the value created by data is not distributed equally.
Millions of people generate data every day, yet much of the economic benefit flows to a relatively small number of organisations with access to advanced AI systems, powerful computing resources and global digital infrastructure.
This concentration of value has sparked important debates around digital fairness and economic inclusion.
Some experts argue that users should have greater ownership of their data, while others contend that businesses which invest in collecting and processing information have legitimate rights to benefit from it.
The question of data ownership remains one of the most unresolved discussions in the digital world.
Does data belong to the individual who created it, or to the company that collected it?
Does ownership depend on contracts, privacy policies or national laws?
Different countries and organisations continue approaching these questions in very different ways.
For Zimbabwe, these issues are becoming increasingly important as digital adoption continues to grow.
More businesses are moving online, fintech services are expanding and e-commerce systems, cloud platforms and government digital initiatives are generating larger amounts of data every year.
Zimbabwean organisations will need to think carefully about where data is stored, who controls it, who benefits from it and what protections exist to safeguard citizens.
Data governance, cybersecurity and privacy protection are becoming essential components of national digital development.
The future is not simply about collecting more data; it is about using data responsibly.
The ideal future is one where the benefits of data are shared more broadly: users benefit through better services and stronger protections; businesses benefit through innovation and efficiency; governments benefit through improved service delivery; and society as a whole benefits
through economic growth and technological progress.
In the age of AI, data is more than information.
It has become a source of economic power, innovation and influence.
The question is no longer whether data is valuable.
The question is how that value should be shared and who gets left behind when it is not.
*Godfrey Nyoni is a consultant at Pique Squid. For feedback, contact 00263786526527
