Realistic fake data can be very useful for testing solutions and practicing data analysis.
## use cases
You may want realistic fake data for
- Testing a new design or feature for an organization's data management system
- Determining the information value of a proposed data collection project
- Developing data visualizations for a dataset before it's available
- Testing applicants to a data analyst role
- Developing and testing a prototype UI
## services
There are many services for creating realistic fake data. See the list below to get started.
- https://www.tonic.ai/
- https://www.mockaroo.com/
ChatGPT and other LLMs are capable of creating small fake datasets, but due to the processing time you wouldn't want to use them for more than a handful of records.
## creating your own fake data
You can create your own fake data using a scripting language like [[Python]] or [[R]].