As we say goodbye to summer and fall enters, our newsletter highlights the accomplishments of this year's Summer Fellows; announces the launch of the next phase of our work in Ukraine; and shares the innovative work of members on the AI for Good Council for Good. Our team has been hard at work preparing to launch the DE&I Scorecard, and our Visiting Scholar Dr. Randon Taylor and Fellow Bessie O'Dell have prepared an excerpt from their soon-to-be-published paper. Join us as we reflect and move forward. The AI for Good Foundation is excited to announce the launch of LifeForce in Ukraine. LifeForce provides real-time access to aid and basic needs from over 17,000 locations across the country, coordinates grass-roots humanitarian efforts, and renders war-time supply chains and logistics resilient to attack.

As one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates is known for contributing to global health through the Gates Foundation. As his biggest legacy, Microsoft is also moving in the same direction. The company is actively involved in helping the world's population overcome some of the most challenging health problems and concerns. Microsoft recently announced a new healthcare initiative known as "AI for Health," a program worth over 40 million dollars. AI for Health evolved out of the AI for Good Program, which offers general aid to the less fortunate around the world.

Microsoft plans to spend $40 million to support collaborative projects leveraging artificial intelligence for medical research and discoveries. The five-year program, called AI for Health, is the fifth program Microsoft has rolled out as part of its AI for Good initiative, the tech giant announced Wednesday. Microsoft's AI for Good is a $165 million program to provide researchers and nonprofits with technology tools to address pressing concerns such as global climate, humanitarian and accessibility issues. "Artificial intelligence has the potential to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges, like improving the health of communities around the world," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said in a statement. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement that AI "represents one of technology's most important priorities, and healthcare is perhaps AI's most urgent application."

Microsoft on Tuesday announced AI for Health, a five-year, $40 million program that aims to help healthcare organizations leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to boost the health of patients and populations worldwide. "AI for Health is a philanthropic initiative that complements our broader work in Microsoft Healthcare," said John Kahan, chief data analytics officer at Microsoft, in a blog post. "Through AI for Health, we will support specific nonprofits and academic collaboration with Microsoft's leading data scientists, access to best-in-class AI tools and cloud computing, and select cash grants." He said the program – which is "underpinned with a strong foundation of privacy, security and ethics" – will focus on tackling societal health issues, helping researchers unlock new medical and scale up new technology solutions. THE LARGER TREND AI for Health will work by harnessing collaborations that pair Microsoft's AI expertise with leading healthcare innovators around the world.

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness across the world and 463 million people are currently at risk. Early detection and effective treatment can reduce the risk of blindness up to 95%. Microsoft's collaboration with research and the development of an AI solution will empower IRIS to bring retinal evaluations to underserved populations across the globe in an effort to end preventable blindness. IRIS is one of six initial grantees for the AI for Health initiative and is honored to be recognized with organizations like BRAC, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Novartis Foundation, PATH, and Seattle Children's Research Institute. Each organization will work with Microsoft to use AI to decipher tough issues like discovering the cause of SIDS, eliminating leprosy, and building an ecosystem that allows safe and secure sharing of biomedical data.