Comprehensive overview of the current landscape of big data analytics, its underlying technologies, and the necessity of robust data governance and privacy compliance. One core theme focuses on the convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and big data, illustrating how these technologies enable sophisticated predictive analytics for competitive advantage across industries like retail, finance, and healthcare. Simultaneously, the sources stress the crucial role of data management architectures, contrasting data warehouses, data lakes, and the newer, unified data lakehouse concept. Finally, a significant portion addresses the critical importance of data privacy and compliance, specifically comparing and contrasting the requirements and penalties associated with major regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).