The value of some data has a steep time decay. In other words, the recency or freshness of the data is the primary source of its value. The time it takes to ingest and process this data and present insights to its consumers may determine its usefulness. If you’re a retail investor pursuing a long-term buy-and-hold strategy, last week’s stock price may be sufficient for your analysis. However, if you’re a day trader looking to exploit inefficiencies in the market that can evaporate in an instant, every microsecond counts. With the advent of social media, continuous communication, and evaporating attention spans, the competition to attract and hold the attention of audiences is fierce. Today’s online audience has high expectations for digital products—highly immersive and dynamic experiences are now table stakes—but integrating generative AI into streaming and real-time data processing presents unique challenges. In this chapter, we’ll explore streaming and real-time data processingReal-time data processing in AWS, how it differs from batch data processing, and strategies for applying generative AI to enrich data in a stream.