This week’s list of top data news highlights covers September 20, 2025 to September 26, 2025 and includes articles on training firefighters with VR and protecting endangered birds in New Zealand.
1. Designing Energy-Efficient Chips
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is using AI-powered software to handle some of the most complex steps in chip design. Instead of engineers manually testing endless variations of chip designs, the company is using algorithms to explore far more possibilities in minutes and uncover layouts that move data more efficiently and waste less energy. TSMC says these AI-driven designs could boost the efficiency of AI processors by up to 10 times.
2. Using an AI Teaching Assistant
Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, has introduced Kia, an AI avatar designed to act as a real-time teaching companion. Powered by advanced natural language processing and animation algorithms, Kia can speak, lip-sync, and display realistic facial expressions and body language. During class, the avatar debates topics, asks questions, and reacts to discussions alongside professors. Unlike standard teaching assistants, Kia isn’t used for grading or course design—instead, she helps students explore how expressive AI can collaborate and communicate in real time.
3. Introducing Smart Tech Showers
Kohler, a kitchen and bath company based in the United States, has partnered with smart home platform Control4 to launch a smart shower system. The system tracks data on water use and links with other home devices, giving insights to users on their habits and options to optimize efficiency. Through a smartphone app or voice commands, people can personalize water temperature, pressure, and steam while syncing with music and lighting for a fully connected experience.
4. Predicting Breast Cancer Risk
Clairity, a Boston-based health tech company, has developed an AI model that predicts a woman’s five-year breast cancer risk from a routine mammogram. Trained on 400,000 past mammograms linked to cancer outcomes, the system identifies subtle patterns in breast tissue that humans can’t see. In studies, it outperformed traditional risk calculators, giving doctors clearer data to tailor screening frequency or recommend preventive care for higher-risk patients.
5. Training Firefighters with VR
The East Meadow Fire Department in New York is using virtual reality to train its 200 volunteers, simulating dangerous scenarios like kitchen fires where firefighters wear VR headsets that place them inside a fully simulated environment, like a kitchen fire. The software tracks their movements, and when they use a digital fire hose in the simulation, it connects to a real physical hose fitted with sensors and motors. These create force feedback, adjusting tension to mimic the water pressure they’d feel in an actual fire.
Halo, a pet technology company based in Texas, has developed a smart dog collar that uses AI and GPS to keep dogs safe and improve training. Through a smartphone app, owners can set virtual boundaries, and the collar gives gentle cues like vibrations or whistles when a dog approaches the edge. The AI tool adapts these cues over time, learning how each dog responds to guide them more effectively. This helps dogs stay within safe zones while giving owners real-time location tracking and control without the need for a physical fence.
The Agriculture Center of Excellence in Wisconsin, a facility at Northcentral Technical College, is using ingestible sensors to improve dairy herd management. Cows swallow sensors, which track internal temperature changes down to a tenth of a degree. AI algorithms analyze this data to predict when a cow is ready to be bred, about to calve, or showing early signs of illness. This allows farmers to take action sooner, improving herd health and productivity while reducing labor demands on dairy farms.
Johnson & Johnson MedTech has introduced an AI-driven tool that helps surgeons plan and perform bunion surgeries with greater accuracy. By analyzing 3D foot scans, the system designs patient-specific surgical guides that show surgeons exactly where to cut and reposition bones, improving alignment and helping to shorten operation times. This technology aims to deliver more consistent results and faster recoveries for patients.
9. Protecting Endangered Birds
New Zealand is using AI-powered automated traps to target invasive predators like rats and stoats threatening rare, flightless birds such as the kākāpō and takahē. AI-driven imaging software inside the traps analyzes the animals’ shape and behavior, triggering only when a target species is detected. This reduces accidental captures and allows population data to be tracked remotely.
Google has launched Mixboard, a tool that uses AI to generate mood boards from text prompts. The system analyzes user inputs and creates images that can be edited, combined, or regenerated, while also producing text descriptions tied to the visuals. Powered by Google’s Nano Banana model, Google’s new image-editing AI model powers Mixboard, enabling users to generate and refine mood board images from text prompts. Mixboard continuously learns from user interactions, offering a data-driven way to brainstorm ideas for projects like home décor, event planning, and design.
