AI has gone mainstream, but the number of people abusing it it is climbing just as the number of people using it is.

A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that 81% of business professionals already use tools like ChatGPT to make decisions, meaning they're putting faith in the responses AI gives them and acting on them. The problem — and it's a big problem — is, most of those outputs are incomplete or based on missing data.

Why? Because most employees are using public, one-size-fits-all AI built on unverified or irrelevant data. And when they try to “fix” that by uploading internal files into ChatGPT, they’re handing proprietary information to a public model.

Yet demand for AI keeps rising.

According to MIT's State of AI in Business 2025 Report:

  • 68% of business leaders say AI is essential to stay competitive
  • Only 27% feel confident in their data readiness.
  • 57% of employees already use AI tools without oversight, or “off the books.”

AI is here to stay. The question is: how do you use it (or guide your company's use of it) in a way that prioritizes both safety and the efficiency AI was built to deliver?

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The Answer: It’s All About the Data

Feed an AI bad data, and it fails. Feed it governed, accurate company data, and it can work brilliantly (that is, as intended).

However, as we've mentioned, public models like ChatGPT weren’t built for enterprise use. They can’t handle massive, complex datasets, and they don’t guarantee data privacy. Uploading sensitive files means handing over your company’s IP.

Read that again, if you will. "Handing over your company's IP." Yikes. Might as well just give away your company.

This is the risk Alkemi was built to address.

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Meet Alkemi

Alkemi is a Seattle-based startup founded by Connor Folley and Max Folley with a clear mission: make AI usable, safe, and actually valuable for business users.

Our flagship product, DataLab, is a secure AI workspace that lets teams chat directly with governed company data — safely, accurately, and at scale.

DataLab bridges the gap between AI’s potential and enterprise security, solving the two biggest blockers to AI adoption: accuracy and trust.

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How Alkemi Works

Alkemi gives every employee a governed, intelligent assistant that understands plain English and responds with real company data, not guesses.

When a user asks a question, DataLab’s conversational AI connects directly to your existing databases, dashboards, or cloud storage.

It runs the analysis inside your private environment, without ever exporting or training on your data.

  • So, a marketing director can ask: “Which campaigns had the best ROI last month?”
  • A finance lead can ask: “What’s our recurring revenue trend for the quarter?”

And so on.

You see the logic behind every response. Answers are traceable, verifiable, and compliant with your governance policies.

The result? Teams move faster. Decisions get smarter. And leaders finally trust the AI behind the insights.

Alkemi's DataLab chat interface: Ask questions and get instant answers from your data

Why It’s Different

DataLab isn’t another chatbot.

It’s the connective tissue between your people, your data, and the AI tools they already use.

  • Secure by design: Your data never leaves your environment
  • Accurate by construction: Answers are based on your governed data
  • Usable by anyone: If you can ask a question, you can get an answer

The best part? Alkemi doesn’t compete with ChatGPT. It complements it.

You can still use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini with Alkemi, but within a single, secure workspace. Your data stays protected. Your team keeps the familiar chat interface they already love. It’s the best of both worlds: the flexibility of open AI tools and the security of enterprise-grade data finally working together.

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Business AI doesn’t need to be risky. With Alkemi, every employee can explore data, ask questions, and make informed decisions without waiting on analysts or worrying about privacy.

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FAQ

What is Alkemi? 

Alkemi is a company that builds secure, AI-powered tools for business data. Its flagship product, DataLab, lets teams chat directly with governed company data to get instant, trustworthy answers. No dashboards, no SQL, no data risk.

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How is Alkemi’s DataLab different from ChatGPT?

ChatGPT uses public data and can’t securely handle enterprise information. Alkemi connects directly to your internal data, keeping it private and verifiable.

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Does Alkemi train on company data?

No. Alkemi never trains on or stores customer data. All computation happens within your environment.

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Can I use Alkemi with ChatGPT?

Yes. Alkemi integrates conversational AI safely, so teams can still use tools like ChatGPT alongside governed company data.