Redefining Data Discovery Through Natural Language and Prompt-based Classification

Traditional data classification tools are powerful—but they’re also rigid, technical, and slow. For most teams, setting up rule-based classification takes weeks of effort, deep expertise, and constant maintenance. That’s a problem when data is growing faster than ever, and AI initiatives demand speed, scale, and precision.

BigID is changing the game with Prompt-Based Classification — a first-of-its-kind capability that lets you classify data by simply describing it in plain language.

No rules. No regex. No complex configuration.

Just tell BigID what you’re looking for — and let the platform do the rest.

Why It Matters

Every team—from security to privacy to AI governance—needs to find and understand sensitive, high-risk, or regulated data. But with traditional tools, classification is often owned by a small group of specialists, leaving everyone else in the dark.

BigID’s Prompt-Based Classification puts the power of classification in everyone’s hands. Whether you’re defining internal policies, regulatory definitions, or AI-specific rules, you can use natural language to discover and categorize the data that matters most—without technical complexity.

This launch is about more than usability. It’s about making classification smarter, faster, and more aligned with how modern organizations operate today.

How It Works

• Just Ask: Start with a prompt like “Find all investor updates” or paste a regulation like HIPAA.
• AI-Powered Interpretation: BigID’s contextual AI engine interprets the meaning and intent.
• Precise Classification: The system automatically identifies matching data across your environment—with full context awareness to reduce false positives.
• Actionable Results: Apply tags, initiate workflows, or trigger policy enforcement based on classification outcomes.

What Makes It Different

Plain Language Prompts

Search and classify using everyday language—no coding, no pattern libraries, no friction.

Context-Aware AI

Understand where and how data appears, not just what it says. A name in an email footer isn’t treated the same as a name in a financial disclosure.

Free-Text Regulatory Matching

Paste in policy or legal language directly—BigID interprets it and applies it to your data.

Enterprise Scale

Works across structured and unstructured data, SaaS apps, cloud platforms, and collaboration tools.

Part of BigID’s Platform

Use Prompt-Based Classification alongside BigID’s discovery, labeling, remediation, and governance tools for end-to-end control.

Real-World Use Cases

• AI Governance: Identify data labeled “prohibited for AI training” or “AI-approved” using natural language prompts.
• Healthcare Compliance: Paste the HIPAA privacy rule and classify PHI with full context.
• Internal Policy Enforcement: Search for terms like “confidential roadmap” or “restricted financial forecast” across your data estate.
• M&A Due Diligence: Identify sensitive documents like “Board materials” or “acquisition targets” across shared drives and inboxes.

Why It Matters for AI Readiness

With AI initiatives accelerating, organizations need to ensure the data going into models is well understood, appropriately categorized, and policy-compliant. Prompt-Based Classification makes it easy to define what’s in scope for AI – and just as easy to block what’s not.

It’s not just faster. It’s smarter. And it brings new teams into the data classification process with less overhead, more accuracy, and greater flexibility.

Try It Today

Want to learn more and see it in action? Set up a 1:1 with one of our BigID experts today!

Author

Neil Patel

Head of Global Product Marketing

Based in the Bay Area, Neil has spent 15+ years with pioneering companies across Silicon Valley, scaling game-changing SaaS - with a particular focus on cybersecurity. At BigID, Neil helps bring innovative data security, privacy, and governance tech to market while illustrating how they propel businesses forward and improve the lives of customers.