When the topics of Microsoft and global health overlap, one tends to think about the Gates Foundation, but the company itself is doing good work along these lines as well. The latest such effort is AI for Health, a $40 million, five-year outgrowth of Microsoft's AI for Good program that aims to help apply the benefits of AI with an eye to bettering the health of the less fortunate worldwide. The new initiative will focus on direct research in the medical AI field (think algorithms for automatically detecting a disease), global health studies (that is, better understanding of how such things could be of use) and improving access (actually putting the algorithms to work). "AI for Health is a philanthropic initiative that complements our broader work in Microsoft Healthcare," wrote Microsoft's John Kahan in a blog post announcing the new program. "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."