Microsoft and NASA will create a chatbot trained on the space agency's databases. The bot will be called Earth Copilot and will be able to answer users' questions about our planet. This was reported by The Verge.
To create the tool, NASA is integrating artificial intelligence into its data warehouse, which will allow Earth Copilot to refer to this information when answering various questions. For example, “What was the impact of Hurricane Ian in Sanibel Island?” or “How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect air quality in the US?”
By launching Earth Copilot, NASA aims to simplify access to scientific data, as obtaining and understanding information in NASA's database is not easy for people who are not researchers or scientists.
“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 non-technical users possess,” Tyler Bryson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of health and public sector industries, said in the announcement. “AI could streamline this process."
Earth Copilot is currently only available to NASA scientists and researchers who are evaluating the tool. They will then explore the possibility of integrating it into NASA's Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis(VEDA) platform, which already offers access to some of the agency's data.