Your Questions, Answered.

QI Labs is an independent Data & AI Emergency Response consultancy. We provide specialized assessment, advisory, and intervention services for enterprises facing data incidents, AI system failures, governance crises, or regulatory scrutiny. Unlike traditional consultancies or vendor professional services, we maintain complete independence from AI vendors and technology platforms.

An emergency includes any situation where: (1) AI systems are producing harmful, biased, or unexpected outputs at scale; (2) data has been exposed, breached, or misused; (3) you're facing imminent regulatory investigation or sanction; (4) AI models have been compromised, poisoned, or manipulated; (5) your AI system has failed in a customer-facing context with material business impact. If you're unsure, contact us — we offer a free 15-minute triage call.

We work with enterprises in regulated industries including financial services, healthcare, energy, government, and technology. Our clients typically include CISOs, CROs, CTOs, CDOs, and General Counsel who need independent expertise fast. We operate globally with experience across EU, US, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific regulatory environments.

Three key differences: (1) Speed — we respond in hours, not weeks. Big 4 firms typically take 2-4 weeks to mobilize. (2) AI specialization — our entire practice is built around AI and data, not adapted from generic IT consulting. (3) Independence — we have zero vendor partnerships, referral arrangements, or software to sell. Our revenue comes solely from advisory fees.

Engagement begins with an emergency intake call (typically within 2 hours of first contact). We sign NDAs before any briefing. Then we conduct a rapid technical and governance assessment of the incident, deliver a structured report with remediation priorities, and can provide hands-on support through resolution. Engagements typically run 5-20 days depending on complexity.

Our Data Breach Assessment is an independent forensic analysis of the scope, cause, and impact of a data exposure. We map what data was exposed, to whom, through what vector, and what your regulatory notification obligations are across relevant jurisdictions. We deliver a report that withstands regulatory scrutiny and legal discovery.

AI Governance Advisory covers framework design (policies, procedures, accountability structures), gap assessment against relevant regulatory requirements (EU AI Act, sector-specific rules), risk categorization of your AI portfolio, and a prioritized remediation roadmap. We can also support regulatory submissions and board-level reporting.

Yes. Many incidents involve third-party AI providers (LLMs via API, embedded AI features, vendor AI pipelines). We can assess these from the integration layer, including reviewing contractual terms, data flow analysis, and output monitoring. We cannot audit the provider's internal systems, but we can assess everything under your control.

Yes — LLM incidents are a growing specialty. We handle prompt injection attacks, jailbreaks in production, hallucination incidents at scale, fine-tuned model misalignment, training data leakage, and RAG system retrieval failures. We understand the technical nuances of generative AI in ways generic consultants don't.

Emergency intake begins within 2 hours of first contact. For critical incidents, a senior expert will be briefing you within 4 hours. Full assessment completion depends on scope: rapid assessments complete in 24-72 hours; comprehensive governance assessments take 7-14 days.

For initial triage, we need only a brief description of the situation (by email or call — NDAs signed first). For the assessment itself, we'll need: system architecture documentation, incident timeline, relevant logs or data samples, and access to key technical contacts. We're experienced at working with incomplete information under time pressure.

All engagements begin with a signed NDA. We operate secure, ephemeral communication channels. Client information is never shared outside the engagement team. We do not discuss client matters publicly, ever. Our systems are SOC 2 aligned, with end-to-end encrypted communications.

Absolutely — and we recommend it. For incidents with regulatory or litigation dimensions, we often work closely with in-house counsel and external law firms. Our technical reports are structured to support legal privilege where appropriate. We understand the intersection of technical evidence and legal admissibility.

Yes. Many clients retain us for ongoing advisory after an incident to oversee remediation, prepare for regulatory engagement, or build governance frameworks. We offer retainer arrangements for organizations wanting continuous AI risk oversight.

We offer two engagement models: (1) Emergency Response: fixed-fee packages for rapid assessments, priced by scope. (2) Retainer: monthly advisory arrangement for ongoing oversight. We are transparent about fees upfront — we quote before we begin. Contact us for a scope discussion and indicative pricing.

Yes. We offer a confidential 15-minute triage call to help you determine whether your situation requires emergency response, what scope of engagement makes sense, and what the expected timeline looks like. There's no obligation. Contact us to schedule.

The EU AI Act creates tiered obligations based on AI system risk classification. High-risk AI systems (in healthcare, finance, employment, critical infrastructure) face the most stringent requirements including conformity assessments, data governance requirements, and human oversight provisions. Prohibited AI practices are already in force. We can assess your AI portfolio against these requirements and design a compliance roadmap.

Notification obligations depend on the nature of the incident, the data involved, the jurisdictions of affected individuals, and applicable sector-specific rules. GDPR requires data breach notification to supervisory authorities within 72 hours and to affected individuals without undue delay (if there's high risk). AI-specific notification obligations are emerging under the EU AI Act. We can map your notification obligations across relevant jurisdictions as part of our assessment.

Yes. Our reports are designed to be submitted to regulators, included in regulatory responses, and to withstand legal discovery. We understand evidentiary standards and structure our technical analysis accordingly. We have experience supporting clients in GDPR enforcement actions, SEC investigations, and other regulatory proceedings.

Yes. Our team has experience across US (SEC cybersecurity rules, HIPAA, state AI laws), Middle East (DIFC, ADGM, Saudi PDPL), and Asia-Pacific (Singapore PDPA, Australia Privacy Act). We can map multi-jurisdictional exposure for global enterprises.