On July 1, UW–Madison officially launched the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence (CAI), its first new school or college in more than 40 years. CAI positions UW–Madison to advance research, education, public engagement, and thought leadership around computing and artificial intelligence. The college brings together three long-established departments — Computer Sciences, the Information School and Statistics — that have spent decades educating students, advancing research, and serving Wisconsin.

The Genomics Data Carpentry workshop is for beginners who are getting started with genomics data. It introduces working with the Unix shell, how to use/create genomics pipelines in this shell, and data visualization with R. Participants will get hands-on experience working with real sequencing data from a long-term evolution experiment, and they will learn skills applicable to different types of genomics analysis. Half-day workshop sessions will be held online August 3-6 & 10-11 from 9am-1pm. Check out the workshop website for more information and registration.

The UW–Madison Open Awards honor and celebrate those using open practices in their work and who are inspiring others to do the same. The Data Science Institute and Libraries, in conjunction with the Open Source Program Office (OSPO), are partnering to host the second annual Open Awards this fall. Nominations will open by the end of August. Watch for the official announcement at the OSPO website: ospo.wisc.edu. 

After a yearlong renovation, the first floor of Steenbock Library will officially reopen in late July! This newly renovated space includes modern amenities, updated technology, and new study spaces with a refreshed look and feel. The renovation also includes active learning classrooms, which will reopen on August 24. Review the updates from the Libraries for specific renovation details.

Have questions about anything data science-related? Come see the Data Science Facilitation Team at Coding Meetup on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-4:30 p.m. CT. To join Coding Meetup, join data-science-hubgroup.slack.com.

August 5, 7 p.m.; 119 E Main St., Madison, WI 53703. Join Professor and Data Science Institute Director, Kyle Cranmer for a conversation on the complexities of artificial intelligence. Enjoy drinks, bingo, trivia, and fun prizes at this Badgers on Tap event at The Rigby in Madison, WI.

Although many companies around the world are building large AI models, it can be surprisingly difficult to get a clear picture of where the most-used ones actually come from. This is where OpenRouter becomes useful. OpenRouter is a platform that makes it easy for individuals and developers to interact with, and build software on top of, some of the top AI models available today — all through a single, unified interface. Rather than juggling separate access points for each provider, users can tap into models from renowned companies like Google and Anthropic in one place. The chart below offers a useful window into this landscape, and it clearly shows that US-based companies still make up the majority of models featured in OpenRouter's top 50. This suggests that, at least for now, American firms continue to lead in terms of visibility and usage on the platform. That said, the picture is shifting. China-based companies have been expanding rapidly in this space, and this growth appears to be contributing to a gradual decline in the overall share held by US-based models. Check out more about artificial intelligence and its growing presence around the world!  

Reposted from Our World in Data: Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.