---
title: "Synthetic data"
description: "Data generated by a model or simulation rather than collected from people or events, used to augment training sets, test edge cases or reduce exposure of personal data."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/synthetic-data
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-24
---

# Synthetic data

Data generated by a model or simulation rather than collected from people or events, used to augment training sets, test edge cases or reduce exposure of personal data. It inherits the biases of its generator and can leak the records it was fitted on, so it is tested like any other dataset.

- Developed in: [ch. 14, Synthetic data, augmentation and privacy-enhancing technologies](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-development#synthetic-data-augmentation-and-privacy-enhancing-technologies)
- Chapters: [ch. 14, Development](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-development) · [ch. 19, Privacy & AI](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/privacy-and-ai)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-synthetic-data

## Sources

Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source.