We are entering a new phase in the information revolution driven by the introduction of new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and how they are being used to transform the data amassed within organisations over the previous 30 or so years. This revolution started hundreds of years ago when moveable type was used to print books at a scale and speed not previously possible. The rise of mass media and then mass communications in the form of telecommunication networks, coupled with the data processing capabilities of computers, powered the next phases. Thirty years ago, the expansion of the internet and the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a means to publish and share information brought the digital revolution into our homes and businesses. Mobile computing has put powerful, always connected computers in the pockets of most people in the industrialised world and social networks have provided platforms for individuals to reach billions of others with their thoughts and ideas.

A result of these innovations and the ways they have been used is a world awash with information, most of which sits unused, unstructured and hidden away in archives and data silos within the organisations, public and private, that created it (Lange, 2023). Despite significant advances in information management techniques and technologies, only a fraction of the value of this data is being realised. However, we are now at an inflection point where much of the infrastructure is in place to begin the process of changing that.