Microsoft AI support for COVID-19

In January 2020, Microsoft launched AI for Health program. Goal is to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data to help improve the health of people worldwide. Post COVID-19 hit world wide, Microsoft took steps to support & empower researchers, nonprofits and policymakers with resources.

ai-health

There have been more than 50 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 1.25 million deaths globally

World Health Organization

Research has accelerated with large-scale computing and open data.

Highlights from Grantees World wide

ai-health-covid-response
Credit: Microsoft

As shared here, few of them are:

  • A grassroots employee volunteer effort at Belgian biopharmaceutical company UCB.
  • UC Riverside researchers utilize quantum-based methods to more accurately predict the effectiveness of proposed Covid-19 inhibitors.
  • IHME, a global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine, forecasts the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Professor Amanda Randles at Duke University is conducting hundreds of millions of simulations required to help more patients have access to critical ventilators.

Partnership with Organizations

As shared here, few of them are:

  • Partnering with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) High Performance Computing Consortium to support researchers and academia.
  • Working with Brown University’s School of Public Health and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard to visualize a common set of measures on testing and risk levels to help everyone know where we are with the pandemic and help policymakers guide their response.
  • Joining University of Oxford and their Government Response Tracker initiative to track and compare government and policy responses to address Covid-19 around the world.

The rapid progress means researchers can more quickly identify potential solutions to combat Covid-19 and provide timely information to policymakers for data-driven decisions that protect communities, cities and regions.

Microsoft blog

Public Information

Using publicly available information from partners, Microsoft have created:

  • a number of interactive visualizations to provide transparency into Covid-19 trends globally.
  • a unique measure called Progress to Zero to help everyone understand, progress in reducing Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
india-progress-to-zero

My Take

There are some great work being done world wide to fight Covid-19 in all possible ways. Organizations like Microsoft are making an active effort to help partners and grantees for Covid-19 response. There is much to do and supports like these will help mankind avert Pandemic.


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