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Flow time: 5 min I your weekly pulse on AI news, tool and case studies reshaping the water sector
🔍 What’s in today’s flow
🔬 AI Research Spotlight: How AI is transforming wastewater treatment and boosting plant efficiency.
🤖 Latest in AI: ChatGPT becomes an app platform - build and use GPT-powered tools inside one chat.
💦 Case Study: LeakZon’s AI cuts water losses by up to 66% through real-time leak detection.
🔧 Trending Tool: Octi AI speeds up prompt creation for ChatGPT, Midjourney, and more.
🕶️ AI’s Shadow: The rise of unapproved AI tools and how to manage the growing cyber risk.
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🔬AI research spotlight: unlocking the potential of AI in wastewater treatment
Reference: sciencedirect. com
The details
Researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi MARA have published a comprehensive review on how AI is transforming wastewater treatment operations. The paper explores how AI models such as machine learning, artificial neural networks, and support vector machines can enhance forecasting, process control, and detection of emerging contaminants.
Key points
Reviews current and emerging AI applications in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for monitoring, optimization, and predictive maintenance.
Explains the strengths and weaknesses of major AI algorithms used in wastewater systems
Presents practical guidelines for integrating AI into existing treatment operations
Introduces an AI-driven framework for detecting emerging contaminants and managing pollutant fluctuations.
Why it matters
AI is helping wastewater utilities move beyond manual operation toward smarter, data-driven systems. By improving process efficiency, reducing energy and chemical use, and enabling early detection of new pollutants, these tools can make treatment plants more resilient, sustainable, and compliant with tightening environmental standards.
🤖Latest in AI: OpenAI turns ChatGPT into an App platform
OpenAI has introduced Apps in ChatGPT, a major update that lets users interact with third-party apps directly inside ChatGPT. The new App Store and App Builder allow anyone, from individuals to big companies, to create mini-apps powered by GPTs. These apps can pull live data, connect to other tools (like Canva, Zapier, or Expedia), and perform complex tasks all within one chat window.
The details
The new App Builder lets anyone create a GPT-powered app without writing code.
The ChatGPT App Store allows users to browse, install, and use apps directly in the chat interface.
ChatGPT now supports live integrations with external services such as Google Drive, Slack, and Canva.
Developers can use the AgentKit SDK for deeper access to actions, APIs, and real-time data.
ChatGPT’s improved memory can remember user context and preferences across sessions.
Why it matters
If apps live inside ChatGPT, users can do more without hopping between websites or phones, planning, shopping, designing, data tasks, all via conversation. That could reshape how we build and distribute software (new “chat-native” apps, new commerce flows), but it also raises platform-power and data-governance questions that teams should watch closely
🔧 Case study: AI for cutting non-revenue water
Reference: leakzon.com
What happened
LeakZon has developed an AI platform called WEAD (Water Efficiency and Anomaly Detection) to help utilities find and fix leaks faster. It combines data from meters, billing, maps, and sensors to detect leaks, bursts, meter errors, and even water theft in near real time. The system can also design district metered areas (DMAs) automatically and works with both old AMR meters and newer advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems. Utilities using WEAD have reported cutting water losses by up to 66%.
Why it matters
Water utilities lose billions of litres of treated water each year through leaks and faulty meters. AI tools like WEAD make it easier to find problems early without replacing all existing infrastructure. By connecting data across departments, utilities can act faster, save money, and improve efficiency, all while meeting water-loss regulations and sustainability goals.
🔧Trending tool: octiai
Octi AI is a prompt-generation studio that turns short task descriptions into well-structured prompts for ChatGPT, Midjourney and other models. It focuses on quick input, optimized prompt, with templates, iterative refinement and a built-in assistant to improve results across text, image, and coding tasks.
Key features
One-line idea → full prompt (optimize and expand)
Preset templates + iterative enhancement for different tasks (content, images, code)
Works with multiple AI tools (ChatGPT, Midjourney, etc.).
Web app with simple, toggleable UI
⚖️ AI Tool Scorecard
Ease of use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ straightforward UI and template
Cost: ⭐⭐⭐⭐starts from $8/month for premium features
Security & privacy: ⭐⭐ - no detailed claims found; treat as typical SaaS
Integration: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ works across popular AI tools
Overall: 14/20 : a handy prompt layer to speed up consistent outputs across apps, a sleek, affordable prompting studio that makes AI work faster and smarter, though it still needs clearer transparency on data security.
Shadow AI happens when employees use unapproved AI tools to make their work easier, often without realizing the risk. Unlike normal “shadow IT,” these tools can learn from sensitive data and leak it outside the company. IBM found that one in five organizations have already faced cyberattacks linked to shadow AI, with costs around $670,000 higher than usual. Samsung learned this the hard way when staff accidentally shared confidential code and meeting notes with ChatGPT. Instead of banning AI, experts say companies should build safe, approved spaces for staff to use AI securely, add data protection tools, and train people on what’s
Why it matters
For water and infrastructure teams, shadow AI can quietly expose plant data, design drawings, or SCADA details to the outside world. This makes systems vulnerable and breaks compliance rules. The goal isn’t to stop AI — it’s to manage it wisely with the right tools, policies, and training.
Takeaway
Don’t fear shadow AI, manage it. Give staff a safe way to use AI, protect sensitive data, and turn hidden risk into smart innovation.
Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s edition and look forward to seeing you next week!
Dr. Andrea G.T