In a standout segment from the May 15 Women in Ag Tech webinar, Dr. Susan Olsen, Founder of Action Intel, gave a live demonstration of how generative AI—specifically ChatGPT—can be used for practical data analysis. Her example used publicly available USDA data on train speeds to explore how AI can simplify business intelligence.
Dr. Olsen began by uploading a USDA dataset in CSV format directly into ChatGPT, demonstrating how the tool can instantly summarize and analyze raw data, requiring no advanced coding. ChatGPT identified column names, missing data, and even flagged outliers, offering a helpful first layer of insight.
To deepen the analysis, Dr. Olsen explored a violin plot, a data visualization that combines box plots with distribution curves. For attendees unfamiliar with such advanced plots, it was a powerful moment of discovery.
“One of the beautiful things about this,” Olsen noted, “is that it can expose you to other types of business intelligence you may not have seen before.”
This demonstration not only highlighted ChatGPT’s utility as a research tool, but it also showed how accessible, visual, and meaningful data analysis can be with the right AI support.
