One of the many benefits of using artificial intelligence (AI) is to help us view societal problems from a different perspective. While there's been much hubbub about how AI might be misused, we must not overlook the many ways AI can be used for good. Our global issues are complex, and AI provides us with a valuable tool to augment human efforts to come up with solutions to vexing problems. Here are 10 of the best ways artificial intelligence is used for good. Artificial intelligence, powered by deep-learning algorithms, is already in use in healthcare.

URBANA, Ill. and BERKELEY, Calif., June 23, 2020 – C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute (C3.ai DTI awards for artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. C3.ai DTI, jointly managed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley, and in partnership with Microsoft Corp., invited researchers in March to take on the challenge of abating COVID-19 and advancing AI-based science and technologies for mitigating future pandemics. After a rigorous peer review process, C3.ai DTI selected 26 research proposals that address COVID-19 across the disciplines of medicine, urban planning, public policy, and computer science, several of which focus on the study of the disease's impact on racial, economic, and healthcare disparities. A total of $5.4 million in cash will be awarded to the following research projects.

You might imagine that in the midst of a global pandemic and all of its social and economic fallout that our minds would be laser-focused on immediate, Earthly woes. A case in point is the recent virus-like spread of news headlines to the effect that there should be "at least 36 alien civilizations" in our galaxy. There you have it, three dozen other sets of intelligent life dotting our cosmic neighborhood, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it. It's at times like these that you can almost hear the collective sigh from astronomers and astrobiologists who realize that they have to roll up their sleeves to gently, politely, carefully try to explain why these headlines are, shall we say, of the same nature as the matter that emanates from ruminant digestive systems. Charting the development of civilizations as a simple function of the age of life on a planet seems positively ludicrous.

A New Hampshire education task force says many parents, teachers and education officials are anxious for students to get back to school this fall, but there's a lot of concern about achieving social distancing and workable hybrid learning plans.

Could flying cars be the answer to avoiding bumper-to-bumper traffic? Inventors have been trying for decades to create flying cars, though it seems the idea of self-driving cars may soon be closer to science reality. You're stuck on the highway. A commute that should have taken a few minutes has now somehow become an hour-long endeavor. When this happens, we all have one of two thoughts… One, Monster truck… Or two, I wish I could just fly over this mess.

Scientists have created the fastest computer ever. The Japanese supercomputer named "Fugaku" now sits at the top of official rankings of how quickly they can do certain real-world tasks. Fugaku was awarded the top spot on the Top500 list, which ranks the world's fastest supercomputers, its creators said. It is also now at the top of other rankings that test how quickly it would perform in real-world applications, how well it can conduct certain artificial intelligence tasks, and how well it can perform with data-intensive processes. No supercomputer has ever scored at the top of the three rankings – known as Top500, HPCG, and Graph500 – before, the creators said.

Apple has unveiled a new software update for its AirPods, bringing a host of new features. It includes a "spatial audio" feature, which uses filters and other technology to allow the sound to feel like it is coming from around the person despite using only two headphones, Apple said. The feature uses motion sensors in the earphones and the device to keep the sound static even when a person's head or iPad is moving around, Apple said. That feature will only be available on the newer AirPods Pro, Apple said. The new software also includes "automatic switching", which means that the AirPods will connect to whichever device is being used, rather than their owners having to manually change between their iPhone and iPad, for instance.

Black holes could be harnessed for energy, scientists have said. The claim comes after researchers produced an experiment they claim verified a decades-old theory that such black holes could create energy as a result of "extremely odd physics". Scientists at the University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy set out to validate Roger Penrose's 1969 work. They used sound waves in an attempt to endorse the "extremely odd physics a half-century after the theory was first proposed". British physicist Mr Penrose theorised that energy could be created by dropping objects such as a rocket into a black hole and splitting the object in two.

Apple has unveiled iOS 14, its new operating system for the iPhone. The update includes a number of major changes to the way the operating system works, as well as new features and updates for apps within the operating system such as Messages. Instead of seeing their apps spread across a variety of screens, they will instead see an "App Library", which is intended to stop people having to search through their various pages. It also includes new widgets, which are dramatically more rich and adaptable than they currently are on the iPhone. As well as showing more information and options, those widgets can be dropped onto the home screen, alongside the list of apps.

More than 1600 Google employees are demanding that the company stop selling technology to police departments. "We're disappointed to know that Google is still selling to police forces, and advertises its connection with police forces as somehow progressive, and seeks more expansive sales rather than severing ties with police and joining the millions who want to defang and defund these institutions," the letter reads, according to Techcrunch. "Why help the institutions responsible for the knee on George Floyd's neck to be more effective organizationally? Not only that, but the same Clarkstown police force being advertised by Google as a success story has been sued multiple times for illegal surveillance of Black Lives Matter organizers." The letter, signed by 1666 employees, was addressed to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.