This week’s list of top data news highlights covers January 18, 2025 to January 24, 2025, and includes articles on a digital tool to optimize soil sampling for farmers and an AI chatbot that can help analyze foreign leaders more efficiently.
1. Enhancing Virtual Assistants
OpenAI has launched a new tool within ChatGPT called Operator, designed to perform online tasks autonomously. Unlike traditional chatbots, Operator acts as an AI agent that can navigate websites, interact with online services, and complete tasks like booking reservations or shopping for groceries based on user instructions.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety has launched a new data dashboard aggregating data on human trafficking from several state agencies, with real-time updates providing the public with the most recent information. The dashboard can help identify and connect human trafficking survivors to available services faster.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and at the Glasgow Caledonian University are developing a tool that will use AI to identify the risk of developing dementia using eye scans of patients. The research team collected roughly one million anonymized eye scans from opticians across Scotland, creating the world’s largest dataset of its kind. Using machine learning, the team will analyze these scans alongside patient demographics, treatment history, and pre-existing conditions to identify patterns that could indicate dementia risk and broader brain health insights.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service have developed a digital tool to optimize soil sampling for farmers. This tool uses algorithms to optimize soil sampling by determining the number and locations of samples. One algorithm creates evenly spaced sampling points, ideal for uniform coverage, while the other tailors sampling to soil variability using data from a USDA database on soil properties. By integrating these methods, the tool helps farmers and researchers make better sampling and input decisions.
Abertay University in Scotland has partnered with the Squadron Air Training Corps to launch a virtual reality (VR) flight training program using advanced simulators. The program integrates immersive technology with two mock cockpits—one paired with an LED screen and another with a VR headset—allowing cadets to learn essential principles of aircraft operation, flight, and airfield procedures in a safe and controlled environment.
6. Monitoring Shipments in Real-Time
Tive, a Boston-based startup, has developed single-use tracking devices and a cloud platform to provide real-time visibility into global freight shipments. The trackers use a combination of GPS, cellular triangulation, and Wi-Fi positioning to pinpoint location and monitor metrics like temperature, humidity, light, and shock. The collected data is transmitted to Tive’s cloud platform, where customers in industries like pharmaceuticals and food can access real-time alerts and analytics, ensuring comprehensive monitoring of their shipments.
GATC Health, a Washington, D.C.-based healthcare technology company, has developed an AI tool that can accelerate new medicine development by predicting clinical trial outcomes with up to 90 percent accuracy. The tool uses AI to simulate human physiology to forecast how the body will respond to new pharmaceutical molecules, including identifying potential side effects. By reducing the risk and cost of clinical trials, the tool can significantly lower drug development expenses and improve the success rate of bringing new medications to market.
8. Assessing Parliamentary Sentiment
The U.K. government is developing an AI tool called Parlex to analyze parliamentary data and predict how Members of Parliament (MPs) may react to proposed policies. By analyzing MPs’ past contributions and voting records, the tool can assess political climates, anticipate challenges, and pinpoint MPs who are particularly passionate about specific issues, helping policymakers refine their strategies.
9. Illustrating Climate Change Impacts
Researchers at the University of Granada have developed an AI tool that generates realistic satellite images to illustrate the impacts of climate change. By integrating deep generative vision models with scientifically informed maps that predict physical processes like water flow during floods, the tool produces highly accurate representations of events such as flooding and reforestation. The tool can help policymakers and the public better prepare for various climate change-induced disasters.
10. Enhancing Intelligence Analysis
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has developed an AI chatbot to assist intelligence analysts in better understanding and predicting the behavior of foreign leaders, including presidents, prime ministers, and other key political figures. The chatbot allows analysts to interact with virtual representatives of these leaders and provides access to detailed insights derived from extensive data, such as public statements, voting records, and past decisions. The chatbot can enable more efficient intelligence gathering and improve the CIA’s ability to anticipate international developments.