The ODI in 2025
Throughout 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly became part of most people’s day-to-day lives, and every part of this rapid expansion is underpinned by data. As AI technologies spread, they exposed global weaknesses in data infrastructure. Governments and organisations have been forced to confront uneven data quality, patchy legal safeguards and growing concerns about the exploitation of personal and creative content. These tensions have brought new urgency to long-standing questions of trust, ethics and accountability in how data is collected, used and shared.
Our work at the ODI is shaped by the strategy we published in 2023. In the face of rapid AI advances, our mission, vision and six strategic principles remained constant. Our principles champion the importance of strong data infrastructure; the foundational role of open data; the need for trust in both data and those who share it; the continued presence of trusted, independent organisations - like the ODI - in the data ecosystem; one that is diverse, equitable and inclusive; and the creation of a new cohort of data leaders, through data skills and knowledge. This Annual Review demonstrates these principles in action and show how they allow us to adapt and tailor our approach in a world of rapid change.
As we look ahead, our focus will be on strengthening the infrastructure, standards and institutions that allow data to serve the public good - nationally and internationally - while ensuring that our work reflects the world as it is, not as it once was.
Read The ODI 2025 Annual Review
