Expert Panel: Semantic Layers: The Foundation for Trusted Generative BI and AI-Assisted Analytics
Webinar Speaker: Donald Farmer, Research Fellow
Date: Monday, September 14, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET
Generative AI has changed who consumes analytics. Business users now ask questions in natural language, and AI agents query data, apply definitions, and act on the results without anyone reading a chart. TDWI research reflects the change; roughly two-thirds of organizations now rate a semantic layer as critical to AI success.
Yet language models do not know what "customer," "pipeline," or "net revenue" means inside a specific organization. They generate fluent SQL and confident answers whether or not the output matches how the business defines its terms. When each tool and each team holds its own definitions, generative BI produces plausible answers that no one can verify; adoption stalls on trust. Trusted AI depends on encoding business meaning where people and machines can both consume it; the semantic layer now governs what AI systems can claim about the business.
In this panel webinar, TDWI research fellow Donald Farmer and industry experts from AtScale take a forward-looking view of how organizations are using semantic layers to enable trusted generative BI and AI-assisted analytics, drawing on both research and real-world implementations.
The panel will assess which capabilities are maturing, where current offerings fall short, and which decisions data leaders should make now.
Attend this session to learn:
- Why semantic layers have become critical to trusted generative BI and enterprise AI success
- How governed definitions make AI-generated answers consistent and verifiable
- What differentiates a genuine semantic layer from a metric store attached to a single product
- Who should own business definitions, and how leading organizations structure that ownership
- How open standards such as the Open Semantic Interchange will affect model and vendor strategy