The AI for Good initiatives by Microsoft were created to foster development and support for AI solutions that seek to benefit all of mankind. The initiatives are AI for Accessibility, AI for Earth, and AI for Humanitarian Action. In today's episode of the Microsoft Today Podcast, we're going discuss all of these fantastic initiatives and how you can get involved for the great good.

 AI for Accessibility

Microsoft's goal for AI for Accessibility is to amplify human capability, as they believe that AI can empower people with disabilities with tools that support independence and productivity, as technology rapidly changes the way we live, learn, and work. Microsoft does through grants, investments of technology, and expertise.

 AI for Accessibility Projects
Soundscape - Using sound, to give sight to the blind
Eye Control - Windows 10 APIs for controlling PCs via eye movements
Swiftkey Symbols - Allows simplified communication for non-verbal users
Immersive Reader - Reads text out loud, break it into syllables, and increase spacing between lines and letters
Microsoft Translator - Empowers the deaf and or hearing impaired
Helpicto - Helps autistic individuals communicate via pictograms
Seeing AI - Is a talking camera app that allows the visually impaired to access the visual world

 

Microsoft Build: AI for Accessibility

 AI for Accessibility & Grantees
Zyrobotics ReadAble Storiez is a reading fluency solution based on STEM and aimed at improving early education literacy skills for young children with varying abilities
Received a $25 million grant from Microsoft
iTherapy is improving communication skills for people with autism, among other cognitive learning disabilities by enhancing their app, InnerVoice, with new capabilities to help people develop their language expression skills and assign meaning to dialogue via naturalized social interactions
Researchers at the University of Iowa are developing an intelligent application for people who are blind or with low vision to independently walk or jog around a 400-meter track, which can determine if someone is veering from their lane, and delivers real-time feedback to help them stay on track
The Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt University is developing conversational tools that provide people with autism job interview training through meaningful interactions

 AI for Accessibility Grants
Microsoft is looking for individuals or teams who are not only passionate about making the world more inclusive, but also firmly rooted in the communities they intend to benefit
Microsoft wants to invest in ideas that are developed by or with people with disabilities
AI for Accessibility is a call to action for developers, NGO’s, academics, researchers, and inventors to accelerate their work for people with disabilities
This is a global program, grant applications from all countries in the world are eligible
For academic institutions, the grants can be distributed as unrestricted gifts to academic institutions to support a project’s objective

 AI for Earth

AI for Earth is a five-year, $50 million Microsoft initiative that supports, and partners with, environmental groups and researchers while also providing grants. The goal: helping to save the planet with data science. Many of the initiatives are also heavily dependent on the ever-expanding world of Windows IoT (Internet of Things). Microsoft's AI for Earth has four areas of focus:
Climate - The changing climate threatens human health, infrastructure, and natural systems. AI can give people more accurate climate predictions to help reduce the potential impacts
Agriculture - By 2050, farmers must produce more food, on less arable land, and with less environmental impact to feed the world’s increasing population. AI can help people monitor the health of farms in real time
Biodiversity - Species are going extinct at an alarming rate. AI can help people accelerate the discovery, monitoring, and protection of biodiversity across our planet
Water - In the next two decades, demand for fresh water is predicted to dramatically outpace supply. AI can help people model Earth’s water supply to help us conserve and protect fresh water

 AI for Earth Projects and APIs
FarmBeats - Through sensors, drones, data analytics, AI and connectivity solutions, Microsoft is enabling precision agriculture to improve yield while reducing resource consumption
Land Cover Mapping - Land cover maps help us visualize everything that covers the Earth. The Microsoft AI platform and ArcGIS spatial mapping software enable precision conservation
Geo AI Data Science VM - Delivers geospatial analytics capabilities that improve the gathering, managing, and analyzing of geographic data in today’s IoT-driven world
Project Premonition - Robotic insect traps, paired with cloud-scale genomics and machine learning algorithms, enable biodiversity insights. It aims to detect pathogens before they cause outbreaks

 

Enabling precision agriculture with AI - Microsoft's FarmBeats Program

In this video you hear from the following:
Sean Stratman - Farmer
Ranveer Chandra - Principal Research at Microsoft

 AI for Humanitarian Action

Was announced by Microsoft in September of 2018, where Microsoft feels that their AI can provide a major impact in four typical areas -
Disaster Response - AI can help agencies improve their response when catastrophic events occur
Needs of Children - Every 3 minutes a child is born with a cleft lip or palate
Refugees and Displaced People - Millions of displayed refugee youth need help building job skills
Human Rights - Empowering organizations to help reduce human rights abuses

 While technology is important, it's what we do with it that truly matters. - Muhammad Yunus (Nobel winner for his work with Microcredit and Microfinance)

 

Microsoft Ignite: AI For Humanitarian Action 

In this video you hear from the following:
Marlene Urscheler - UN Human Rights Officer
Zeid Ra'al Al Hussein - Former UN High Commissioner on Human Rights
Bai Yanbing - Postdoctoral Researcher Tohoku University (Japan)
Dr. Ruben Ayala - Chief Medical Officer of Operation Smile
Michael Tjalve - Principal AI Architect at Microsoft

 Leading by ExampleWe will support specific nonprofit and humanitarian organizations through financial grants, partnerships, and technology investments in addition to technical expertise. We will work together with organizations to create efficient solutions and help accelerate the pace of innovation.

 Example of AI for Humanitarian Action

Microsoft's PhotoDNA is a free tool developed by Microsoft since 2009 with Dartmouth College that is used by more than 200 organizations around the world and has assisted in the detection, disruption, and reporting of millions of child exploitation images and videos
PhotoDNA is Free to use for law enforcement and tool providers, including the PhotoDNA Cloud Service powered by Microsoft Azure
To date, PhotoDNA has also enabled content providers to remove millions of illegal photographs from the internet; helped convict child sexual predators; and, in some cases, helped law enforcement rescue potential victims before they were physically harmed

 AI for Good Resources
AI for Accessibility
AI for Accessibility Grants
AI for Earth
AI for Earth Grants
AI for Earth APIs
AI for Humanitarian Action
Using AI to Help Save Lives

 #TemplatesForHumanity

#TempaltesForHumanity is a grassroots initiative kickstarted by Keith Whatling, a Digital Inclusion Advocate and @PowerApps evangelist based in the UK. Keith was inspired after seeing the AI for Humanity video from Microsoft Ignite and spurred into action after seeing humanitarian app efforts at a recent Hack4Good event in London.

 

I came across Keith's #TemplatesForHumanity tweet, and noticed the great feedback, conversation and Microsoft Power Platform templates it helped ignite and thought it would be a great thing to share. Brian Dang from the PowerApps team lead by example, and quickly published the first of what I assume will be many #TemplatesForHumanity submissions to the PowerApps Community Gallery - Volunteer Pledge App.

 

Another #TemplateForHumanity for a Disease Monitoring App was submitted earlier today by Mariano Gomez Bent who said, "Hopefully, it can be of help to #NGOs and #NFPs helping out in emergency zones around the world." If you're interested in knowing more, you can follow the #TemplatesForHumanity tag at the PowerApps Community to keep track of future submissions.

 

Don't just sit there, share your #TemplatesForHumanity today!

 #TemplatesForHumanity Resources
Templates for Humanity by Keith Whatling
#TemplatesForHumanity Twitter Search
PowerApps Community Apps Gallery

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