Microsoft Announces $50 Million for Its "AI for Earth" Project

There are plenty of stories about artificial intelligence ending the world as we know it (see 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, certain Elon Musk tweets). There are fewer about how AI could save the world, but believers are out there. At a gathering Monday for the two-year anniversary of the Paris climate accord, Microsoft announced a $50 million investment in its AI for Earth project that it believes can be a "game-changer for our planet." Microsoft launched AI for Earth over the summer with an initial $2 million, hiring Lucas Joppa to run it as the company's chief environmental scientist--a role that, as far as Joppa knows, doesn't exist at any other technology company. Since the launch, the company has given out 35 grants to groups in 10 countries.