This week’s roundup of top data news covers highlights from February 21, 2026, to February 27, 2026, featuring a new AI legal assistant that helps renters understand and navigate their housing rights and a next-generation submersible drone designed to attach to ships and travel underwater undetected.
1. Managing Curbing Regulations
Boston’s Office of Emerging Technology has launched an AI-powered program called Boston Curb Lab that builds a real-time, citywide database of curb regulations, such as rideshare pick-up areas, loading zones, and bus lanes, to improve street-space management. The system uses computer vision cameras on city vehicles to capture curbside signs and conditions during routine routes, and the AI converts those images into standardized, continuously updated curb‑use rules.
2. Helping Renters Know Their Rights
Florida-based nonprofit Bay Area Legal Services has created an AI-powered chatbot called Bailey B. to help renters understand their rights and navigate housing issues. The web-based tool delivers Florida-specific guidance on evictions, landlord-tenant disputes, and basic filings using attorney-reviewed content. It provides 24/7 assistance, document drafting support, and connections to local legal resources, expanding access to aid for residents.
3. Scanning Companies for Sustainability Risks
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has integrated a machine-learning system into its investment screening process to help analysts screen companies for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks such as forced labor or corruption. When the fund adds a company to the list of firms it tracks for investment—known as its benchmark index—the system automatically scans that company for ESG risks and flags potential concerns within 24 hours.
4. Hitchhiking Submersible Drone
U.S.-based defense company Lockheed Martin has developed an autonomous undersea drone called the Lamprey. Currently in testing, the vehicle is designed to monitor enemy ships, mine detection, and other naval missions. It attaches to ship or submarine hulls to recharge, then detaches to deploy torpedoes, decoys, or small aerial drones. Its flexible, eel-like body allows it to maneuver through tight spaces and operate covertly in shallow or cluttered waters.
5. Picking Alexa’s Personality
Amazon has launched new Alexa personality styles that let users choose how the AI assistant speaks, offering brief, chill, and sweet modes that adjust tone without changing core capabilities. The brief setting delivers short, direct responses with minimal extra detail; the chill setting uses a calm, relaxed tone; and the sweet setting responds with a warmer, more upbeat style. The update gives users more control over how the assistant communicates in everyday interactions.
6. Influencing Customer’s Food Choices
Researchers at Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management have conducted experiments comparing orders placed with voice-based AI systems or human servers, finding that customers were more likely to choose indulgent foods when ordering from AI. Across five experiments, the team showed that people often feel less socially judged when speaking to AI, which makes indulgent choices, such as desserts or high‑calorie items, feel less embarrassing.
Researchers at Germany-based telecom company Deutsche Telekom and U.S.-based quantum company Qunnect have tested quantum data transfer across a 19-mile commercial fiber loop in Berlin, achieving 95 percent accuracy. Previous field tests often struggled to maintain signal quality over similar distances. By stabilizing photon transmission, the team showed quantum‑secure communication can operate alongside conventional internet traffic.
U.S.-based wearable company CUDIS has launched smart health rings that pair biometric tracking with an AI-driven coaching app. The rings monitor sleep, stress, and movement, sending data to a companion app where an AI-powered system analyzes patterns and delivers personalized recommendations. Unlike traditional trackers that provide static summaries, the system adapts guidance in real-time as users’ habits and physiology change.
9. Using Satellites to Track Rural Water Systems
New Mexico’s Environment Department has launched a statewide program that uses publicly available L-band radar—a type of long-wavelength radio signal, satellite data and an AI system to detect underground water leaks called LeakTracer. Because these longer wavelengths can pass through clouds and vegetation, the system can spot unusual soil moisture patterns that may signal pipe failures. In early tests, the system detected nearly 80 leaks and saved hundreds of thousands of gallons of water daily.
10. Enhancing Samsung’s Smartphones
Samsung has built its Galaxy S26 smartphone lineup around expanded on‑device AI, integrating tools from Google’s Gemini and the AI search company Perplexity into messaging and productivity apps. Gemini summarizes messages and drafts replies, while Perplexity surfaces contextual answers inside conversations. Galaxy’s AI can also help book services like Uber and check calendar availability, making it easier to coordinate plans directly within a conversation.
