Synthetic data tools are platforms that generate synthetic media or synthetic datasets, such as images, text, or structured data, based on original data for testing, training models, and simulation. They enable users to produce artificial data from scratch that protects privacy-sensitive information while maintaining the mathematical characteristics and relationships inherent in the original dataset.
Synthetic data platforms are mainly used by data scientists, machine learning engineers, and researchers in fields like technology, healthcare, and finance. They help companies quickly build datasets for testing, machine learning, data validation, and more, all while ensuring privacy and solving data shortages. By simulating real-world situations, synthetic data generation tools allow businesses and researchers to improve algorithms and innovate without relying on sensitive or unavailable data.
Synthetic data can be created through methods like computer-generated imagery (CGI), generative neural networks (GAN), and heuristics. It comes in two types: structured data, which includes numbers and values, and unstructured data, such as images and videos.
The major benefit of using synthetic data is that it can be used without risking privacy or violating compliance. Synthetic data software also includes privacy safeguards, like differential privacy, to ensure that individual information stays secure. This makes it easier for organizations to share data without putting personal privacy at risk.
While data masking software also protects private information, it doesn't allow for creating artificial data or handling large-scale datasets like synthetic data generator. Additionally, companies looking to address algorithmic bias can use synthetic data to reduce biases in their original datasets.
To qualify for inclusion in the Synthetic Data category, a product must:
Generate synthetic data, such as image and structured data
Convert privacy-sensitive data into a fully anonymous dataset while maintaining granularity
Work out of the box, and ensure that the generative model can automatically generate the data without being explicitly programmed to do so