LF AI & Data Foundation—the organization building an ecosystem to sustain open source innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) and data open source projects, today announced Bitol as its latest Sandbox Project.
As AI continues to shape the future of industries and society, the AIDA User Group embodies the vision of sharing knowledge, fostering connections, and steering the computing domain with a focus on peace and ethical standards. Central to Bitol is the concept of a Data Contract. A data contract is an agreement between a data producer and its consumers. It not only describes the data but also its expected behavior by advertising the data quality rules the data needs to obey, as well as service levels, stakeholders, roles, and pricing. Data contracts should follow an open and extensible standard like the Open Data Contract Standard (ODCS), adopted by many organizations. ODCS leverages YAML and can, therefore, easily be versioned and governed. As a consequence, a data contract is enforceable and actionable by tools and services that follow the standard.
Dr. Ibrahim Haddad, Executive Director of LF AI & Data, remarks, “The integration of Bitol into the LF AI & Data Foundation’s sandbox marks a significant step in our commitment to advancing open standards in the realm of AI and data. We believe that Bitol, with its robust architecture and content, will pave the way for a more integrated and ethical future in AI-driven industries.”
The Bitol project is geared towards addressing challenges such as data normalization, keeping documentation relevant, defining service-level expectations, and simplifying data & tool integration. In doing so, it hopes to foster an environment that encourages innovation and simplifies integration processes.
Jean-Georges Perrin, interim chair of the steering committee, from Bitol adds, “We are proud to bring the Bitol to the LF AI & Data Foundation. With the diverse set of users, from Fortune 500 companies to startups in Europe and North America, we are confident in the potential of this standard to revolutionize how data contracts are perceived and utilized.”
This project’s history is deep-rooted, having formerly been known as the data contract template and playing an essential role at PayPal in the implementation of Data Mesh. Today, under the guidance of the AIDA User Group, it continues to evolve, catering to a wide array of users, including major corporations, startups, and mid-market companies across the globe. Perrin concludes “The AIDA User Group is dedicated to fostering knowledge in AI, data, and analytics. As ODCS has grown and matured, it’s become clear that we need a more structured organization like LF to guide its further development.”
Learn more about Bitol on their GitHub and join the Bitol-Announce Mailing List.
A warm welcome to Bitol! We are excited to see the project’s continued growth and success as part of the LF AI & Data Foundation. If you are interested in hosting an open source project with us, please visit the LF AI & Data website to learn more.
Bitol Key Links
LF AI & Data Resources
- Learn about membership opportunities
- Explore the interactive landscape
- Check out our technical projects
- Join us at upcoming events
- Read the latest announcements on the blog
- Subscribe to the mailing lists
- Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn
