First-party datasets built for production AI
Off-the-shelf data degrades in production. YPAI manufactures custom datasets with domain-shift coverage, demographic diversity, and full consent verification. Norwegian company, EU jurisdiction, 40,000+ vetted contributors across 50+ countries.
Why general-purpose datasets fail in production
Models trained on benchmark data hit a wall when they meet real users, real devices, and real environments. Three structural gaps drive most production failures.
Domain shift
Models trained on clean lab recordings degrade 15-40% when microphones, acoustics, and environments change in production. General datasets do not cover this variance.
Long-tail human variance
Real users differ from benchmark populations. Accents, dialects, speech patterns, age groups, and medical conditions create edge cases that crowd-sourced data misses.
Regulatory constraints
Some deployments cannot use public or scraped data. GDPR Article 6 requires lawful basis for processing. EU AI Act Article 10 mandates data governance for high-risk systems.
Six modalities, one collection framework
Every modality follows the same governance pipeline: contributor vetting, consent management, quality assurance, and provenance documentation.
Speech & Audio
Prompted, spontaneous, and conversational speech in 150+ languages. Cross-device and cross-environment recordings.
Image Data
Bounding boxes, segmentation masks, and keypoint annotations for computer vision. Domain-specific capture.
Video Data
Frame-accurate tracking and temporal annotations for perception models. Multi-camera setups supported.
Text & NLP
Named entity recognition, sentiment analysis, intent classification, and document annotation.
LiDAR & 3D
Point cloud annotation for autonomous driving, robotics, and industrial inspection.
Geospatial
Satellite imagery, aerial photography, and GIS data annotation for mapping and environmental monitoring.
How data quality compares across sourcing methods
Not all data sources produce the same results. This is how YPAI custom collection compares to crowdsourced platforms and public datasets across six dimensions.
| Dimension | YPAI Custom | Crowdsourced Platforms | Public Datasets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | 90% usable rate | 55-65% usable | Unknown provenance |
| Consent | Named contributors, GDPR Article 6 | Click-through consent | Often none |
| Domain coverage | Built to your production environment | Generic distribution | Fixed domains |
| EU AI Act | Data cards and governance docs included | Not available | Not available |
| Audit trail | Full provenance per sample | Anonymized workers | No trail |
| Right to erasure | Within 30 days | Platform-dependent | Impossible |
From requirements to delivery in five stages
Every collection project follows a documented pipeline with checkpoints at each stage.
Requirements
Joint specification session. We define data types, acceptance criteria, demographic quotas, and compliance requirements.
Contributor matching
We select contributors from our 40,000+ network based on language, dialect, age, domain expertise, and device availability.
Collection
Data captured in controlled and naturalistic environments. Each session produces governance artifacts: consent records, device metadata, environment logs.
Quality assurance
Multi-pass review: automated format checks, human accuracy review, statistical sampling against acceptance criteria. 90% usable rate.
Delivery
Data delivered to your S3, GCS, or Azure storage with provenance documentation, AI Act data cards, and deletion schedule.
Governance and compliance questions answered
Data procurement in regulated industries requires answers before contracts. Here are the four questions buyers ask first.
How do you handle consent?
Every contributor signs informed consent covering purpose, retention, and right to erasure. Our GDPR-native consent framework means records are included in every delivery package.
Where is the data stored?
EU-resident storage by default (Frankfurt, Stockholm). US or APAC hosting available on request. Zero CLOUD Act exposure with Norwegian jurisdiction.
Can contributors request deletion?
Yes. Our 30-day erasure SLA covers all contributor data. When a contributor requests deletion, their samples are permanently removed from all deliveries.
What about the EU AI Act?
Every dataset ships with AI Act data cards documenting: data sources, collection methodology, demographic distribution, known limitations, and intended use.
Tell us what data your model needs
Describe your use case and requirements. We will scope a pilot, quote a price, and deliver sample data within two weeks.