Researchers have made a data-driven discovery related to a high performance layered van der Waals piezoelectric material, specifically NbOI2. The discovery appears to involve the use of computational and machine learning methods, which are also being applied to other areas of materials science, including the study of ferroelectricity and multiferroic oxides. The exact nature and implications of the discovery are not entirely clear, with reports touching on various related topics, including noncollinear ferrielectricity and high-throughput frameworks for materials discovery.