Cohesity's generative AI Gaia gets keyword search tool
A new search, questioning and data visibility feature arrives in Cohesity's generative AI Gaia with Data Explore. The update also expands Gaia's support for file storage systems.
Cohesity wants to make searching backups easy for any employee using its generative AI tools.
Cohesity's new Data Explore capability, which launched Tuesday for its Cohesity Gaia generative AI service, enables topic word cloud visualization and searches of backup data using keywords.
Users could previously ask questions using a conversational interface with Gaia. But with Data Explore, they can now browse common topics or keywords within a data set, as well as access search and question suggestions to find out what's available in each set.
The vendor also expanded the list of supported data sources for Gaia to include on-premises or cloud file servers, such as Dell Technologies' PowerScale and NetApp file storage hardware and software.
Backup vendors have long promised ways for organizations to use data stored within backup or cold storage services with generative AI as the latest pitch, according to Simon Robinson, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group. Tools that can pinpoint and visualize data for employees regardless of their training or specialty are a step closer to fulfilling that promise.
You don't need to be a corporate librarian to use this stuff.
Simon RobinsonAnalyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
"The data has always been there, [but] how do organizations turn that data into information and turn that information into something actionable?" Robinson said. "You don't need to be a corporate librarian to use this stuff. It puts [insights] into the hands of business users."
Storage spelunking
Cohesity released Gaia in February as a cloud SaaS add-on for its flagship Cohesity Data Cloud backup management platform. Gaia connects to Microsoft 365 so that Cohesity customers can ask questions about specific topics, find related files and generate new content based on the information.
But a challenge for many users is knowing what to ask to start that knowledge quest, according to Greg Statton, vice president of AI solutions at Cohesity.
"You now have this ability to ask all these questions about your documents -- but [what if] you're not an expert," Statton said. "You need something to help get you started."
Data Explore, available at no additional charge, enables Gaia to examine a given collection of backup data and surface keywords that appear frequently, while also offering questions, prompts and suggestions for digging out the information contained in those keywords. The feature uses semantic indexing, akin to an internet search, to help users refine their searches.
Enterprise IT customers have started to become more wary of generative AI in the past year due to the technology's hype, according to Krista Case, an analyst at Futurum Group.
Cohesity's Data Explore can surface information within a data set in a more user-friendly manner, she said. This search and visualization capability enables Gaia to be used for specific functions such as summation or suggestion.
"What they're trying to do is tie generative AI back to concrete use cases rather than it being hype," Case said. "The more you can visualize [data], the quicker you're going to be to have those actionable insights."
The variety of data sources Gaia can draw from also expanded as part of Tuesday's update.
Gaia now supports workloads from unstructured file servers, such as those sold by Dell and NetApp, and from cloud-based file servers such as Cohesity SmartFiles. Previously, the service supported only data within Microsoft 365 including Outlook, SharePoint and OneDrive services. Data must still be ingested in the Cohesity Data Platform to be viewable for Gaia.
Future development
Statton said he wants to avoid having Gaia viewed exclusively as a chatbot support agent for backups. Instead, capabilities such as Data Explore should set the tone for future Gaia releases and updates.
Based on customer trials and feedback, he said he sees IT administrators already familiar with intricacies of Cohesity system -- limiting the need for a generative AI service around processes. Instead, he believes Cohesity experts will want generative AI to augment data searching, surface information around abnormal events and help limit alert fatigue.
"I think a lot of folks pivoted too quickly to chatbots," Statton said. "Our administrators are already experts in the system. If anything, they'd want deeper intelligence that's more contextually aware of what they're working on."
Tools such as Data Explore provide a more concrete example of generative AI's value to organizations by making data encased within backups more accessible and digestible to users.
Backup companies like Cohesity have promised their services will deliver business value if companies hold onto data, Robinson said. Data Explore provides a way for almost any employee to start browsing and finding that promised value.
"Every vendor is seeing a ton of data sitting underneath our infrastructure, but that usually stops at the edge of their software," he said. "Backup vendors in particular have talked about organizations getting value out of their data for years, [but] I think we're at the point where that's getting viable."
Tim McCarthy is a news writer for TechTarget Editorial covering cloud and data storage.
