This week’s list of top data news highlights covers the period from August 17, 2024 to August 23, 2024 and includes stories about digital memory boxes for children in foster care and improving a robot’s sense of touch.
1. Make it easy to read
Education publisher McGraw-Hill has introduced two generative AI tools to enhance its education platform. The first tool, AI Reader, provides personalized support to college students by offering simpler explanations, alternative language, and quizzes within e-books. The second, Writing Assistant, is aimed at students in grades 6 to 12 and provides real-time feedback on writing assignments, helping students improve their skills and allowing teachers to provide more personalized instruction and track progress.
2. Emissions monitoring
New Jersey-based climate technology company Logical Buildings is partnering with New York-based utility Con Edison to develop a real-time emissions monitoring tool for multifamily and condominium buildings in New York that will track daily and weekly energy consumption to help keep buildings within carbon limits set by Local Ordinance 97, which mandates buildings reduce emissions to meet the city’s climate goals.
3. Promoting journalism
The Washington Post has introduced an AI tool called Haystacker, designed to help reporters sift through large data sets of video, photos, text and more to identify important trends and patterns. The company’s engineering team worked with newsrooms to develop the in-house tool, which The Post recently used to analyze more than 700 political ads. The company hinted that it may share the technology with the industry at large in the future.
4. Simplifying school admission procedures
The New York City Department of Education partnered with an MIT lab to develop a tool to help high school students applying to the city’s high schools gauge their chances of success. The tool uses data like grades, borough district, and lottery numbers to predict the chances of admission to a particular school, aiming to simplify a complex process and help families make more informed decisions.
5. Preventing wildfires
A team of firefighters, scientists and engineers is working to prevent wildfires using AI-enabled drones developed by British company Windracers. The technology allows up to 30 autonomous drones to work together to detect and extinguish fires before they get out of control. The drones are designed to operate without human intervention, can monitor large areas, adapt to changing conditions and deliver water and extinguishing agents to put out fires.
6. Audio Deepfake Detection
McAfee has introduced a new tool designed to identify AI-generated audio in videos on platforms like YouTube and X. The tool scans for audio in any video stream accessible on a PC and alerts users with a red icon that they can click to receive more information about the potential deepfake.
7. Organize your memories
Blackpool City Council in the UK has introduced Digital Memory Boxes for children in foster care to safely store their digital memories and memories. The tool allows children to store and organise important moments in their lives, including photos, videos and documents, in a central, secured digital platform. The user-friendly interface allows children to easily access their memories and reminisce in a meaningful way.
8. Sales Support
Salesforce has introduced two new AI-powered agents aimed at automating and enhancing sales operations: one agent autonomously handles tasks like answering inquiries and scheduling meetings, while the other simulates interactions with buyers to help sellers hone their negotiation skills.
9. Sense touch
Researchers at the German Aerospace Agency have developed a new way to give robots a sense of touch. Instead of using expensive and complex external sensors or artificial skin, the team combined the robot’s built-in sensors with machine learning. This allows the robot to feel and understand physical contact, such as touch, without adding any additional hardware. The robot can detect and interpret tactile sensations, such as recognizing numbers or letters painted on a surface.
10. Make robotaxi fares cheaper
Waymo has partnered with Chinese automaker Zeekr to develop a new robotaxi designed to reduce the number of sensors and lower manufacturing costs while maintaining advanced self-driving capabilities. The vehicle features a streamlined sensor suite with 16 cameras, five LiDAR units and six radar systems, providing a range of up to 500 meters. The partnership aims to make self-driving vehicles more affordable as Waymo expands its services in different cities.
Image credit: Pexels
