Benn Stancil 谈 BI 的第三种形态：AI 让数据分析从数字转向叙事
Select avg(Moby Dick) limit 2 sentences
Benn Stancil 在 Office Hours 中提出 BI 的第三种形态，认为未来 BI 的输出不是数字，而是叙事与定性描述。他以一句伪 SQL「Select avg(Moby Dick) limit 2 sentences」说明 LLM 能理解这类查询，ChatGPT 可将《白鲸》概括为两句话，同样也能总结 10 场甚至 100 场客户对话的主题。
In short : AI is reshaping business intelligence by transforming data analysis into narrative insights, emphasizing qualitative over quantitative data.
The SQL statement above is a quote from our recent Office Hours with Benn Stancil. It’s not a SQL statement that would work today in a cloud data warehouse. But an LLM would understand it : summarize the book Moby Dick in two sentences.
Sure enough, ChatGPT answers the question :
This pseudocode blends the structured queries of data analysis with the unstructured data contained in a classic novel. This is how Benn views the future of BI
BI’s Third Form. “Is the output numbers in the future of BI? I don’t think it’s numbers…the theory is what we want ; the characterization & qualitative parts.”
Just as ChatGPT summarized the essence of Moby Dick, AI easily summarizes the themes of 10 customer conversations - or 100.
Benn views the future of BI as the narrative, the story behind the data. Numbers have been the historical source of truth, a proxy to underlying customer behavior. Nobel laureate Shiller wrote about the power of narrative economics, stories used to understand a business & shape the future.
The rest of the Modern Data Stack will transform, too. Data Quality will need to tackle ever greater volumes. If LLMs do average the insight in new underlying unstructured data sources which are potentially massive, what is Data Quality’s new role in the world of AI? ETL, more deterministic in nature, may not see full delegation to AI.
We covered the Databricks/Tabular acquisition & many other topics. Benn’s views on the data ecosystem are unique : a bit irreverent with lots of practical experience underpinning them.
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. The video is embedded below & podcast link is here.
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来源：Tomer Tunguz 博客 · tomtunguz.com