The Center for Data Innovation spoke with Ron De Jesus, field chief privacy officer of Transcend, a data and AI governance platform that helps enterprises comply with complex regulations. De Jesus discussed how Transcend helps enterprises navigate privacy regulations and strengthen their internal AI governance frameworks.
Martin Makaryan: How does Transcend help companies become more efficient?
Ron De Jesus: When Ben Book and Mike Farrell founded Transcend in 2017, they intended it to be a tool to help consumers take control of their data. Over time, however, they realized that there was a strong need to help both small and large enterprises navigate privacy laws. In today’s ever-changing policy and regulatory landscape, companies must navigate different jurisdictions and changing regulations. Transcend helps them by streamlining their regulatory compliance. With advancements in AI technology and a growing interest in harnessing AI in various industries, we have turned our attention to this regulatory area as well.
Our platform streamlines compliance for enterprises, thus cutting costs and saving time and energy for them to invest elsewhere. We offer a full suite of privacy and AI governance tools that integrate easily into a company’s existing system. For example, our classification tool allows clients to easily distinguish between different kinds of data, which helps determine what regulations will apply. Another important tool that we provide is a consent manager, which records consumer consent, from user interface to backend opt-outs, and maintains a dashboard that provides the insights our customers need to comply with privacy reporting requirements. We work with companies like Robinhood, Brex, and LG Electronics, but every enterprise, regardless of its size, needs to manage regulatory compliance, reduce risk, and improve their data operations.
Makaryan: Transcend recently introduced a software called Pathfinder. What is this software and what pushed you to launch it?
De Jesus: Virtually all enterprises are trying to integrate AI tools into their operations to some extent, but many still feel they do not have the appropriate governance structures to do so responsibly. For instance, if you look at recent statistics from Accenture, while the majority of companies want to increase their investment in AI, only 70 percent of business executives that Accenture surveyed said that they do not yet have a fully operational governance framework.
Pathfinder is our solution to this problem. This software offers an AI governance tool that acts as a protective layer between AI models and an enterprise’s internal applications and data. With Pathfinder, our clients get real-time visibility into what data is moving in and out of AI models. Additionally, they can customize their policies and set oversight alerts depending on their risk tolerance or the regulatory requirements of their industry. The purpose of Pathfinder is to help organizations navigate complex regulatory requirements, especially as new AI legislation advances in different countries.
Makaryan: What is the technology underpinning this software?
De Jesus: Pathfinder is a centralized architecture that acts as a “middleware layer” between a company’s applications or AI use cases, and foundational AI models. This middleware layer only allows data to flow in and out of AI systems according to predefined policies the enterprise sets, providing complete oversight and control and simplifying AI governance at scale. Essentially, Pathfinder protects an organization’s data and applications from ever interfacing with an AI model without oversight.
Makaryan: What makes Pathfinder unique?
De Jesus: I think what makes Pathfinder unique is the flexibility and customizability that it offers to our clients. Pathfinder can flag, audit, and mitigate potential risks in real-time and it is extremely customizable—users can set alerts or define policies specific to their compliance needs. It is also an analytics tool to track user interactions with AI models to improve governance structures and operational efficiency as enterprises develop their AI strategies.
Makaryan: What is the vision for the company moving forward as rapid advancements in AI continue?
De Jesus: We see a future where data privacy and AI governance will be automatic and will become natural parts of all business systems. Our goal is to expand our platform to meet the needs of a broader range of enterprises and upgrade our tools to adapt to new tech regulations and best practices. Obviously, our mission is to streamline compliance for our clients, so we will have to adapt as new regulations go into effect.