Microsoft Wants AI To Save The World From Environmental Woe

Microsoft has taken the covers off a program to put artificial intelligence (AI) to work for ensuring the world does not wilt under environmental problems and climate change.

AI for Earth is Redmond’s aim to provide access to AI technology for researchers to augment their projects and experiments and educate people and organisations on what AI tools are available and how to use them for the specific needs.

Redmond also aims to fuel innovation around the potential use of AI to enable environmentally beneficial techniques such as smart agriculture and precision conservation.

AI to save the world

“Our goal is to empower others in new and more impactful ways to help create a more sustainable future. This program expands our commitments to democratising AI and advancing sustainability around the globe,” expalined Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief legal officer.

“And it builds upon our experience in accelerating the pace of innovation bringing together philanthropic work, connectivity advances and more accessible technology around the world.

“There is no shortage of work to be done to chart a healthier, more sustainable future for our planet. Time is not our friend on this endeavour, and the stakes are high. We know that AI for Earth is just a first step in a longer journey. But what we’ve seen so far gives us optimism for the future.”

Microsoft’s ambitiosn to use AI to essnetially save the world from destructive climate change are rather lofty, but it has $2 million dollars committed to the task and its significnat cloud and computing portfolio to draw upon.

AI ambitions

Of course, Microsoft’s mission with AI does not simply stop with wanting to save the world.

Building upon CEO Satya Nadella’s ambition to make AI an inclusive technology, Harry Shum, executive vice president of Microsoft’s AI and Rersearch group, noted that the company aims to be at the intersection of AI, people and society.

Furthermore, Shum expaliend that Microsodt wants to bring the disprate areas of AI back together and evolve the smart technology.

“Another core goal of Microsoft Research AI is to reunite AI research endeavours such as machine learning, perception and natural language processing that have evolved over time into separate fields of research,” he said.

“This integrated approach will allow us to develop sophisticated understandings and tools that can help people do complex, multifaceted tasks. For example, using this approach we can create methods and systems that understand language and take action based on that understanding.”

As such we can expect to see Microsoft add more AI capabilities into is range of products and services.

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