2025: What We Learned Building Data Governance for the AI Era

As 2025 draws to a close, there has been a notable acceleration in the data and AI landscape, with a strong push for AI in production and a growing emphasis on trust, reliability, and governance. Foundational has focused on next-generation data governance by anchoring it at the source code level, facilitating proactive governance across diverse tech environments. Key initiatives included enhancing compatibility with major source code platforms, improving lineage computation, and making data quality checks continuous and predictable. The year also saw an emphasis on integrating governance into existing workflows and expanding coverage to include AI systems, reflecting a shift towards a more integrated approach to AI governance. Industry insights from firms like Forrester and Gartner underscored the increasing importance of trust and explainability in AI, with governance playing a central role in translating AI investments into sustainable value. As organizations prepare for 2026, the focus is expected to remain on deepening lineage, understanding change, and extending governance capabilities to further support data and AI operations.