Structured data follows a fixed, tabular schema (rows and columns, e.g. a spreadsheet or SQL table). Unstructured data has no predefined format (free text, images, audio, video, PDFs).
In GENAI-L (Domain 1, section 1.2) this is relevant because generative AI specifically excels at extracting value from unstructured data (text, images), unlike traditional ML, which tends to work better with structured data.
Structured vs. unstructured data is a concept that can show up on the exam. Check the full guide to see it in context.