This week’s list of top data news highlights covers April 29, 2023 to May 5, 2023 and includes articles on launching an AI-powered tool for legal research and expanding autonomous taxi zones.
1. Recreating Speech
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have created an AI system that can decode speech from brain activity based on data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This may help people who have lost their ability to speak.
2. Cooking Burgers
Sam’s Club, a U.S.-based retail warehouse chain, has introduced a robot chef to cook burgers at a location in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The robot chef can grind beef, form, cook, and season patties, apply sauce, and assemble burgers.
3. Improving Social Media Posts
Nextdoor, a U.S.-based social networking website for neighborhoods, has launched an AI-powered assistant that can help users avoid unkind posts on the platform. The assistant can identify unkind wording in potential posts and suggest different phrasing.
4. Tracking Municipal Programs
The Louisville Office of Resilience and Community Services in Kentucky has launched a dashboard to track data on municipal programs. Residents can use the dashboard to access information on assistance programs for rent or utility bills, housing referral lists, and more.
5. Conducting Legal Research
LexisNexis, a U.S.-based legal technology provider, has launched a generative AI tool that can assist with legal inquiries. Lawyers can use the tool to draft documents, conduct research, and summarize legal issues.
6. Predicting Cardiac Health Risks
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai, a U.S.-based medical center system, have created a deep learning model that can predict a patient’s risk of experiencing an adverse cardiac event. The team trained the system with medical data from patients, such as blood pressure, heart rate, and images of their hearts.
7. Sending Gifts
1-800-Flowers.com, a U.S.-based gifts retailer, has added a feature that uses ChatGPT to create card messages. Customers can use the feature to draft cards to accompany deliveries of flowers or gift baskets.
8. Riding in an Autonomous Taxi
Waymo, a U.S.-based autonomous driving technology company, has expanded its autonomous taxi service in Phoenix and San Francisco. Waymo has added more suburbs in Phoenix to its service area, making the region the largest service area for autonomous vehicles in the world. In San Francisco, the company will offer more testers access to the taxis.
9. Detecting Cancer
Researchers at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Imperial College London have created an AI system that can determine if abnormal growths in computerized tomography (CT) scans are cancerous more effectively than current methods. The team trained the system with CT scans from around 500 patients with abnormal growths in their lungs.
10. Applying for Jobs
LinkedIn, a U.S.-based professional networking platform, has introduced an AI-powered tool that can draft cover letters. The tool uses information from job seekers’ profiles, hiring managers’ profiles, the companies, and job descriptions to draft the messages.
Image credit: Flickr user Jernej Furman
