RIP, BI Misses the Point
New research reveals what's really going on with AI and its impact on human work
The debate over “RIP, BI” misses the point. According to the 2026 State of AI Data Connectivity Report from CData Software, the rise of AI analytics makes the human pilot more essential than ever. The more powerful the AI, the more critical the guide.
The human role has shifted from craftsman to pilot. Where BI experts once hand-crafted dashboards with Tableau or PowerBI, they now fly a powerful new exploration vehicle. AI agents provide a vehicle for multi-dimensional, sub-atomic data discovery, but the human charts the course. They know which questions to ask, which paths to explore, and which insights matter.
The report’s findings make this shift concrete. It found that AI-native software providers are three times more likely to provide more than 26 external data sources compared to traditional data exploration tools (46% vs. 15%).
This leap in data availability requires human pilots who know the terrain and can navigate with the powerful new tools at their disposal.
Download the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eD53cZcN
Where Have You Been, Mark?
The Techno Sapien Substack has been quiet: sorry! This is one of the projects I’ve been working on — a survey (and related set of deep research interviews) of over 200 leaders in enterprise and SaaS software about what they’re ACTUALLY doing with AI. I’ll be sharing more key findings over coming months.
Also, I helped AI One launch a new Substack about an emerging technology field they call Enterprise Context Management. Subscribe to it here!
ECM is a new field that helps enterprises control the context they give AI to get better results. I’m editing the awesome artless over there by cofounders Conor Twomey and Fergus Keenan, and AI Architect Mark Sykes.
... And comments from LinkedIn about some who find the evolution good and balanced, where we discussed the criticism for making this point with BI fans (of which I am one). That data shows AI is a positive force in the data analytics world, and elevating the demand for human "pilots."
Here's an article about the how even the most talented BI folks resist the new capabilities: https://technosapien.substack.com/p/my-opening-farewell-to-ai-loathers
Also, more from the CData research about the finding that using AI is resulting in more engineering (and analytics) work, not less: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markwpalmer_we-think-of-ai-as-a-tool-to-automate-the-activity-7402362797738643456-4DPD?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAACkNMB_k9WyOC8JUkEVVeLoX40sXdUA-4
It's nice to be getting offline and LinkedIn comments on this. Linking to related posts about AI and BI, like this: https://technosapien.substack.com/p/my-opening-farewell-to-ai-loathers