Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

NASA tests new AI chatbot to make sense of complex data

By

Using its Earth-observing satellites, NASA has collected huge amounts of highly complex data about our planet over the years to track climate change, monitor wildfires, and plenty more besides.

But making sense of it all, and bringing it to the masses, is a challenging endeavor. Until now, that is.

Recommended Videos

Harnessing the power of generative AI, NASA has teamed up with Microsoft to create Earth Copilot, a new AI-powered chat tool specifically designed to simplify how users access complex geospatial satellite imagery and data, potentially unlocking new insights and discoveries.

While only a limited number of researchers and scientists can currently make sense of the data, Earth Copilot will bring it to an almost unlimited audience, with curious folks able to probe the tool with questions for an exchange that’s conversational in tone, similar to how you might already use ChatGPT or other similar generative-AI chat tools.

Microsoft suggests that users might simply ask questions like: “What was the impact of Hurricane Ian in Sanibel Island?” or, “How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect air quality in the U.S.?” Earth Copilot will then dive into the relevant data sets before offering an answer that should be relatively easy to digest.

“NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems Program is responsible for collecting an incredible variety of data from spaceborne sensors and instruments,” Microsoft said in an article introducing Earth Copilot. “This data spans everything from atmospheric conditions to land cover changes, ocean temperatures, and more. However, the sheer scale and complexity of this information can be overwhelming. For many, finding and extracting insights requires navigating technical interfaces, understanding data formats, and mastering the intricacies of geospatial analysis — specialized skills that very few nontechnical users possess. AI could streamline this process, reducing time to gain insights from Earth’s data to a matter of seconds.”

Currently, Earth Copilot is being tested by NASA scientists and researchers to ensure its safety and reliability.

The next step will be to integrate it into NASA’s Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis (VEDA) platform, which makes it easier for users to search, discover, and analyze data related to Earth science.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
A new test shows Microsoft Recall’s continued security problems
Recall screenshot.

Microsoft is currently previewing its latest version of Recall to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-, Intel-, and AMD-based Copilot+ PCs -- and the topic on most users' minds is security. The company updated its security and privacy architecture for the feature in September, but, according to tests run by Tom's Hardware, it still might not be good enough.

The new version of Recall includes a sensitive information filter that's supposed to detect when there's information like credit card numbers and Social Security numbers on the screen. If it detects them, it will avoid taking a screenshot. When Tom's Hardware put this filter to the test, however, it failed in a number of situations.

Read more
Nvidia’s new AI model makes music from text and audio prompts
Nvidia CEO Jensen in front of a background.

Nvidia has released a new generative audio AI model that is capable of creating myriad sounds, music, and even voices, based on the user's simple text and audio prompts.

Dubbed Fugatto (aka Foundational Generative Audio Transformer Opus 1) the model can, for example, create jingles and song snippets based solely on text prompts, add or remove instruments and vocals from existing tracks, modify both the accent and emotion of a voice, and "even let people produce sounds never heard before," per Monday's announcement post.

Read more
Westinghouse’s new nuclear microreactor could power tomorrow’s AI data centers
the eVinci microreactor

Westinghouse Electric has submitted its Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) for the eVinci Microreactor to the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a major milestone in a process that began last October.

America largely abandoned nuclear energy after the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979, but it is making a comeback thanks to the astronomical energy (and cooling) requirements of today's frontier AI models. A recent study by the Washington Post and The University of California, Davis, found that using ChatGPT to generate a single 100-word email can consume up to nearly a liter and a half of water and enough energy to power 14 LED light bulbs for an hour. And as AI models grow ever larger and more complex, their power demands are expected to increase in step, with AI data centers consuming multiple megawatts up to a full gigawatt of electricity.

Read more