Microsoft launches $40 million artificial intelligence initiative to advance global health research – seattlepi.com

Microsoft campus in Redmond.

Microsoft campus in Redmond.

Photo: Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency Via Getty Ima

Microsoft campus in Redmond.

Microsoft campus in Redmond.

Microsoft launches $40 million artificial intelligence initiative to advance global health research

Microsoft announced Wednesday that its newest $40 million investment in artificial intelligence (AI) will help advance global health initiatives, with two cash grants going to medical research at Seattle-based organizations.

As part of the tech giant's $165 million AI for Good initiative, this new public health branch will focus on three main areas: accelerating medical research around prevention and diagnosis of diseases, generating new insights about morality and global health crises, and improving health equity by increasing access to care for under-served populations.

"As a tech company, it is our responsibility to ensure that organizations working on the most pressing societal issues have access to our latest AI technology and the expertise of our technical talent," wrote John Kahan, Chief Data Analytics Officer at Microsoft in a company blog. "Through AI for Health, we will support specific nonprofits and academic collaboration with Microsofts leading data scientists, access to best-in-class AI tools and cloud computing, and select cash grants."

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One of the grants will go to Seattle Children's Hospital to continue their research on the causes and diagnosis of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 3,600 infants died in 2017 alone from SIDS.

Microsoft data scientists have already been working with researchers at Seattle Children's Hospital and discovered a correlation between maternal smoking and the fatal disease, estimating that 22 percent of the deaths from SIDS are attributed to smoking.

This research is personal for Kahan, who lost a son to SIDS.

"I saw firsthand, both personally and professionally, how you can marry artificial intelligence and medical research to advance this field, said Kahan in the program's launch event on Jan. 29. I saw because I lost my first son, and only son, to SIDS and I saw our head of data science partner with leading medical experts at Seattle Childrens and research institutes around the world."

Another grant will go towards Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Cascadia Data Discovery Initiative, which aims to accelerate cancer research by creating a data-sharing system for instructions and researchers across the Pacific Northwest to share biomedical data.

Other grants will benefit the Novartis Foundation for efforts to eliminate leprosy and Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems to distribute diabetic retinopathy diagnostic software to prevent blindness.

These grants come as AI's rapidly growing role across industries is being debated by professionals, especially in medicine. Microsoft stated that less than 5% of AI professionals are operating in the health and nonprofit sector, leaving medical researchers with a shortage of talent and knowledge in the field.

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Technological innovations in AI are also moving faster than most doctors can prepare for. A recent study by Stanford Medicine found that only 7% of the 523 U.S. physicians surveyed thought they were "very prepared" to implement AI into their practice. The study called this a "transformation gap," citing that while most medical professionals can perceive the benefits of this technology for their patients, few feel prepared to adequately utilize it.

"Tomorrows clinicians not only need to be prepared to use AI, but they must also be ready to shape the technologys future development," the study states.

Other efforts in Microsoft's AI for Good initiative include AI for Earth, AI for Accessibility, AI for Cultural Heritage and AI for Humanitarian Action.

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Microsoft launches $40 million artificial intelligence initiative to advance global health research - seattlepi.com