---
title: "Governance beyond security: knowledge, context & ontology on the lakehouse"
description: "The post argues that healthcare AI governance must extend beyond security controls to include knowledge, context, and ontology: security governs access, while semantics determine what data means and whether models can trust it. DEP frames classification tags, model cards, data contracts, and lineage as machine-readable governance artifacts, with Unity Catalog serving as the metadata runtime for agents. Build agents can generate ETL, testing, de-identification, and deployment, while analytic agents answer questions over individual data products; human stewards approve proposals and own accountability. A shared lifecycle certifies the data product and AI track through gates using scores for governance, quality, semantics, and ownership, with certification expiring after relevant changes or failures. The approach applies data-layer ABAC to SQL and vector retrieval, logs agent prompts with lineage, and connects readiness metrics to model economics by enabling smaller models when cataloged data supplies sufficient context."
---

# Governance beyond security: knowledge, context & ontology on the lakehouse

[Databricks](https://yomu.fyi/company/databricks) · Srikanth Mandalapu, Travis Paulson, Bernie Kuan · Sep 3, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

The post argues that healthcare AI governance must extend beyond security controls to include knowledge, context, and ontology: security governs access, while semantics determine what data means and whether models can trust it. DEP frames classification tags, model cards, data contracts, and lineage as machine-readable governance artifacts, with Unity Catalog serving as the metadata runtime for agents. Build agents can generate ETL, testing, de-identification, and deployment, while analytic agents answer questions over individual data products; human stewards approve proposals and own accountability. A shared lifecycle certifies the data product and AI track through gates using scores for governance, quality, semantics, and ownership, with certification expiring after relevant changes or failures. The approach applies data-layer ABAC to SQL and vector retrieval, logs agent prompts with lineage, and connects readiness metrics to model economics by enabling smaller models when cataloged data supplies sufficient context.

## Context

The post identifies a gap in security-focused AI governance: access controls do not establish what data means, whether it is trustworthy, or whether an AI model should learn from it. It presents healthcare governance as needing broader semantics, context, ontology, accountability, and operational proof.

## Approach / What changed

The Data Empowerment Program organizes governance into five pillars—Data Governance, Knowledge Governance, Data Literacy, Data Management, and Ontology—and operationalizes their metadata through build and analytic agents. Unity Catalog stores the governed metadata, agents execute lifecycle tasks and write evidence back, and shared gates use AI Certification, human approvals, continuous checks, and data-layer ABAC to control release and retrieval.

## Takeaways

- Classification tags, model cards, data contracts, and lineage are treated as semantic building blocks: concepts, context, shared definitions, and relationships that agents can consume.
- AI Certification records governance, quality, semantics, and ownership scores in Unity Catalog; schema changes, contract updates, or failed evaluation suites can revoke certification until checks pass again.
- Attribute-Based Access Control applies at the data layer so SQL and vector retrieval inherit the querying user’s grants, while agent prompts are logged with the lineage used to answer them.

**Tags:** [AI Agents](https://yomu.fyi/topic/ai-agents), [Attribute-Based Access Control](https://yomu.fyi/topic/attribute-based-access-control), [Ontology](https://yomu.fyi/topic/ontology), [Unity Catalog](https://yomu.fyi/topic/unity-catalog)

- Source: [Databricks](https://www.databricks.com/blog/governance-beyond-security-knowledge-context-ontology-lakehouse)
- Source URL: https://www.databricks.com/blog/governance-beyond-security-knowledge-context-ontology-lakehouse
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-04T00:00:55.824Z

[Read original post](https://www.databricks.com/blog/governance-beyond-security-knowledge-context-ontology-lakehouse)