EXL acquires AI model developer iMerit

The acquisition of iMerit by EXL signals a shift in enterprise AI from model building to making AI usable, trusted, and outcome-driven. As AI moves into robotics and autonomous systems, success depends less on model scale and more on data quality, according to Basu. Human experts play a critical role in creating high-quality ground truth data and evaluating whether a vehicle or robot responded appropriately in realistic scenarios.

Kapoor notes that competitive advantage in enterprise AI won't come from any single layer but from bringing together proprietary data, domain context, model evaluation, AI engineering, and governance. He emphasizes that over the next three to five years, proprietary enterprise data will become one of the most valuable competitive assets, and companies will increasingly want specialized models trained on their own data.

The acquisition also addresses trust and safety concerns in AI deployment. Basu argues that safety and compliance must be designed into the data, training, evaluation, and monitoring process, not treated as a final check before launch. EXL strengthens this process through trace analysis, enabling organizations to follow the data and model behavior that led to a particular decision.