Microsoft: A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform was launched this Wednesday (4) to facilitate actions to prevent and combat deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The PrevisIA tool, developed by Microsoft, the Amazon Institute of Man and Environment (Imazon) and the Vale Fund, anticipates information on regions susceptible to deforestation and fires. The algorithm analyzes data on topography, land cover and legal and illegal roads in satellite images, to find risks of felling trees or fire and inform public agencies to carry out prevention and combat actions. Alerts generated by the platform are also open to the public on an initiative's dashboard. Microsoft Azure cloud capabilities and Imazon's AI algorithm to detect roads helped improve the deforestation risk model to identify territories most threatened by deforestation in the Amazon, such as Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units.

Hot off Google unveiling its own initiative for improving artificial intelligence's impact on humanity, fellow AI research giant Microsoft has announced a program dedicated to improving the planet through machine learning. AI for Earth, revealed during Microsoft's AI event today in London, will assist organizations using AI for environmental protection, innovation and research -- particularly those addressing issues in water conservation, agriculture, biodiversity and climate change. According to Microsoft, AI for Earth will operate on three major "pillars" -- granting access to Microsoft's resources for research groups, providing educational resources to teach said groups how to utilize AI optimally and special lighthouse projects that innovate AI's ability to study the environment. To that effect, Microsoft also announced today it will invest $2 million into AI for Earth, which will manifest as research grants enabling access to its cloud and AI tools, as well as technical training on its various platforms. Though a newly announced initiative, Microsoft has already demonstrated concepts for what AI for Earth could accomplish, including past work where it's used machine learning and cloud computing to monitor watershed in the Chesapeake Bay, track soil moisture levels, and power Project Premonition -- a multi-step program that aims to analyze and prevent mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.

Last year, Microsoft announced the formation of a new Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, with over 5,000 computer scientists. At the time, the company said it intended to "build the world's most powerful AI supercomputer with Azure and make it available to anyone, to enable people and organizations to harness its power". Today, Microsoft revealed a new initiative to use its AI and machine learning capabilities in "solving some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time". "The scale and speed of the changes we see in our physical and natural world require new solutions," Microsoft said today. "But the latest innovative technologies often come with a price tag and require computational expertise that puts them out of reach for many researchers and nongovernmental organizations."