Microsoft and NASA have a new AI tool to put satellite data at your fingertips
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Not everyone can make it to outer space, but Microsoft (MSFT) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration want to “democratize access” to the Earth’s scientific data.
The space agency has built a custom artificial intelligence-powered copilot, called Earth Copilot, using Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, the tech giant announced on Thursday. NASA’s copilot aims to make data collected by the space agency, such as information on wildfires and climate change, more accessible to the general public, scientists and educators, and policymakers. The new system lets users ask questions about NASA’s satellite data in plain English, similar to chatting with a virtual assistant.
AI technology can now rapidly analyze complex data collected by NASA’s sensors and instruments in space, such as atmospheric conditions and temperatures, “reducing time to gain insights from Earth’s data in a matter of seconds,” Microsoft said.
“The vision behind this collaboration was to leverage AI and cloud technologies to bring Earth’s insights to communities that have been underserved, where access to data can lead to tangible improvements,” Minh Nguyen, cloud solution architect at Microsoft, said in a statement. “By enabling users to interact with the data through simple, plain language queries, we’re helping to democratize access to spaceborne information.”
Earth Copilot is currently only available to NASA scientists and researchers for testing to ensure users cannot misuse its data and outputs. The tool is part of NASA’s Transform to Open Science initiative, which aims to share NASA’s geospatial data with a wider audience. Microsoft did not announce a public release date for Earth Copilot.
Microsoft has integrated its flagship AI product, Copilot, into its suite of business apps. In October, the tech giant announced that users would be able to build their own autonomous agents in Copilot Studio that can “understand the nature of your work and act on your behalf.” The company also announced 10 new autonomous agents for its enterprise platform, Dynamics 365.
