📊 Generating and Evaluating Synthetic Data in R

In today's edition: What's Shaping the Future of Data?

• 🔗 AI in Supply Chain Management

•  📈 Stein's Paradox in Statistics

• ⚡ Long-Running AI Agents with Zero Infrastructure

• 🚀 Grok 4 Fast: 2M Context at 16x Lower Cost

• 🤖Altman readies Manhattan Project–scale AI build-out ‍

• 💔 ChatGPT Is Fueling Real Breakups

• 💡 AI Tutorial:ChatGPT prompts to save money while travelling

• 🤖 AI Tools and Data Tools to checkout

Generating and evaluating synthetic data in R

This self-paced tutorial will introduce you to the generation and evaluation of synthetic data. Synthetic data is generated data that can be used as an alternative to privacy-sensitive data, for example to enhance open science practices. Advantages of open (synthetic) data are numerous: other researchers can re-run analyses with data that is close to the actual data, which allows them to verify the main results.

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The Growing Role of AI in Supply Chain Management

As supply chains become ever more complex, more and more businesses are turning to AI as the solution; in fact, a recent MHI report found that while only 17% of businesses are already using AI, around 45% predicted that they’ll integrate AI in their supply chain by 2027.

Stein’s Paradox in Statistics

The best guess about the future is usually obtained by computing the average of past events. Stein’s paradox defines circumstances in which there are estimators better than the arithmetic average…

Long-Running AI Agents and Workflows with Zero Infrastructure 🔁 ⚡

Trigger.dev is an open-source platform that lets you write normal async TypeScript code and deploy it as production-grade background jobs with zero infrastructure management. It is specifically designed to handle long-running async tasks with built-in queuing, automatic retries, and real-time monitoring.

Grok 4 Fast - 2M context, GPT-5-level Performance at 16x Less Cost 💪🧠

xAI has shipped another reasoning model, Grok 4 Fast, that achieves state-of-the-art cost efficiency. The team distilled their learnings from Grok 4 into a dramatically more efficient architecture that uses 40% fewer tokens, costs up to 98% less to achieve the same performance on frontier benchmarks as Grok 4.

Cut Costs. Not Corners.

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👨‍💻 Data Tools, Libraries

Data Defense Forum hosted by Cyberhaven on September 24, renowned CISOs and data security experts will share how they’re redefining data loss prevention (DLP), embedding security into culture, mitigating insider risk, and controlling shadow AI without slowing innovation.

F2 (GitHub Repo)

F2 is a cross-platform command-line tool for batch renaming files and directories quickly and safely.

MindsDB: Opensource federated query engine with a built-in MCP server that allows you to connect and query data from 200+ sources, including databases, SaaS applications

Awesome LLM Apps: Build awesome LLM apps with RAG, AI agents, MCP, and more to interact with data sources like GitHub, Gmail, PDFs, and YouTube videos, and automate complex work.

AI News:

Altman readies Manhattan Project–scale AI build-out

OpenAI is scaling on two axes: compute and hardware. On the infrastructure side, it’s committing an extra $100B to reserve server rentals, pushing total spend toward $350B by 2030. CFO Sarah Friar concedes compute shortages have already throttled feature rollouts; Altman insists the AI race is a contest of raw scale as much as algorithms. Forecasts peg annual server bills at $85B, nearly half of hyperscaler cloud revenue in 2024, putting enormous pressure on chipmakers, integrators, and utilities.

Science Links Mitochondria & Muscle Strength

As we age, our muscles naturally lose mass, strength, and functionality, which can lead to fatigue and weakness beginning as early as our 30s. Recent studies indicate that our mitochondria—the cellular powerhouses that generate 90% of our energy—play a crucial role in this decline, contributing to reduced muscle function as we age. A new way to support and improve muscle health as we age, Mitopure® by Timeline is clinically shown to meaningfully boost our mitochondrial health to improve muscle strength, without any change in exercise required. Ready to feel stronger, for longer with Mitopure? Big Data News Weekly readers can take 30% off their first month with code 30NEWSLETTER for a limited time. While supplies last.

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*500mg Mitopure® have been shown to (1) induce gene expression related to mitochondria function and metabolism and (2) increase the strength of the hamstring leg muscle in measures of knee extension and flexion after 4 months in overweight 40-65 year olds.

‍⚡ Tesla gives big hint that it will build Cyber SUV, smaller Cybertruck

The Cyber SUV and a smaller Cybertruck could potentially be added to Tesla's lineup soon. While the company has not confirmed its plans for the vehicles, a recent promotional video Tesla released seemed to show a mock-up design of the Cyber SUV in plain sight. A smaller Cybertruck design would allow fans in Europe and Asia to purchase the all-electric pickup.

⚠️ Microsoft CEO Concerned AI Will Destroy the Company

Satya Nadella says AI could destroy Microsoft. The CEO warned employees about repeating past mistakes that led once-great companies to collapse. Microsoft is laying off thousands while investing billions into AI. Nadella says he’s “haunted” by DEC, a company that failed to adapt. Musk mocked Microsoft, claiming AI could simulate the entire company.

🎵 AI artist Xania Monet lands $3M record deal

Mississippi poet Talisha Jones secured a multimillion-dollar contract for her AI-generated R&B persona Xania Monet, coming on the heels of the artist’s music debuting on Billboard’s charts and racking up 10M streams in the U.S. last week. Jones created Monet’s identity using AI tools and uses Suno for music creation, but claims to use ‘live elements’ and writes all the lyrics herself.

💔 ChatGPT Is Fueling Real Breakups

A growing number of people are blaming AI chatbots like ChatGPT for the collapse of their marriages. In one case, a 10-year-old begged his parents not to divorce, and the mother asked ChatGPT to help reply to his message. Others describe their partners using the chatbot as a replacement for therapy, feeding it one-sided prompts and getting back long emotional responses that only reinforced their own views.

AI Tutorial

ChatGPT prompts to save money while travelling

1. Identify the cheapest travel dates quickly.

• Prompt: “Find the lowest-cost departure and return dates within [X-day] window around [target date]. Highlight 2–3 best combos.”

2. Explore all flight options

• Prompt: “List all flights from [Departure City] to [Destination] in the next [X weeks]. Include budget airlines and smaller carriers. Sort by total cost.”

3. Optimize multi-leg routes

• Prompt: “Suggest multi-leg or layover routes from [Departure City] to [Destination] under $[target]. Keep layovers under [X hours].”

4. Look for promo codes & deals

• Prompt: “Find valid promo codes, flash sales, or exclusive discounts for flights on [preferred airlines]. Use verified, up-to-date sources only.”

5. Check extra fees

• Prompt: “Break down all extra fees (bags, seats, boarding). Suggest legal ways to minimize or avoid them.”

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9. WriteGo.ai - Generate research papers, essays, and articles effortlessly.

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Have cool resources to share? Submit AI tool

A.I. Generated Image of the Day

👀 Verdant dreams

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