Understandably, some take a cautious view when it comes to
AI development, sometimes painting a grim, dystopic future where large swathes
of the population are rendered jobless, access to AI is not evenly distributed
amongst citizens, and privacy and civil liberties are increasingly under threat
from AI’s insatiable need for data.
There is no denying that AI will present a new set of
societal challenges that will need to be navigated thoughtfully and carefully
and, in particular, it will be critical for all organizations to build trust in
AI amongst their customers and stakeholders.
However, these concerns should not overshadow the enormous
potential that AI offers society.
Here are five key areas where AI has created remarkable
developments and improvements in Asia.
1. Accessibility
Asia-Pacific is currently home to 690 million people with
disabilities. AI can help people with vision, hearing, cognitive, learning, and
mobility disabilities perform daily tasks more independently, lead a richer,
more productive life and participate more fully in society.
For example, Seeing AI is a free app that leverages AI
capabilities to identify a broad range of visual cues - including faces,
emotions and handwriting. That data is then converted into audio descriptions
for the visually-impaired. This enables the 285 million people in the world
with low vision to better navigate their day, making the visual world more
accessible.
Seeing AI app turns the visual world into an audible
experience for the low vision community.
2. Agriculture
Today, Asia is the world’s most populous region with more
than 4.5 billion inhabitants, approximately 60% of the global population, and
this number is forecasted to grow to over 5 billion by 2030. This will put
incredible strain on the region’s already-challenged food supply chains unless
farmers can find new ways to keep up with demand, such as leveraging AI and
analytics to greatly improve their yields.
In India, Microsoft has partnered with a non-profit
organization, International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT), to develop an AI Sowing App that sends advisories to farmers on the
optimal date to sow their crops, based on weather conditions, soil, and other
indicators.
The solution predicts the optimal sowing period by using AI
to analyze 30 years of historic climate data and calculate the adequacy of
rainfall and soil moisture using real-time data and weather forecasting models.
In addition, the program does not require farmers to incur capital expenditure,
such as installing sensors in their fields, making this optimal for emerging
markets.
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Video for News Center: Microsoft and ICRISAT - Bringing Artificial Intelligence
to agriculture to boost crop yield
3. Climate
Change
One of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century is
the changing climate, and how it threatens human health, infrastructure, and
natural systems. A leading cause of climate change is carbon emissions.
Microsoft is embracing the responsibility to operate
sustainably and reduce the environmental impact of its business. One of the
ways it doe this is by enlisting AI's help to manage the operations and
infrastructure of our data centers. As a result, less electricity is needed to
fuel data centers’ computing and cooling requirements. In fact, cloud services
are 93% more energy efficient and up to 98% more carbon efficient than
traditional enterprise data centers.
AI technologies are also being applied beyond the data
center to improve the energy efficiency of entire buildings. In Singapore,
approximately one-third of the nation’s electricity is consumed by buildings.
JTC, a government agency responsible for the developing the nation’s industrial
infrastructure, is taking a proactive approach to address this voracious demand
for electricity by centralizing its operations on the Microsoft Cloud to
monitor, analyze and optimize its buildings. Using sensor data and AI-driven
analytics, JTC can now identify and rectify faults before breakdowns occur
through a predictive model, resulting in a 15 percent drop in energy cost
avoidance.
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Video for News Center: How JTC is modeling what it means to make buildings more
energy-efficient and sustainable
4. Education
Education is one of the building blocks for creating a
better future, and AI is being leveraged to enhance the education experience
for students and improve outcomes in schools.
In Andhra Pradesh, a state in southern India, Microsoft is
partnering with the government to launch a new app that predicts which students
are most likely to drop out of school. Powered by machine learning, AI
capabilities, and the cloud, this solution processes complex data sets that
include enrolment information, student performance, gender and socio-economic
demographics, school infrastructure, and teacher skills, to look for predictive
patterns.
This enables administrators and educators to intervene
early and target the most at-risk students with programs and counseling to
prevent dropouts. The app is already being used successfully by more than
10,000 schools in Andhra Pradesh, covering more than five million students in
2017.
With the help of AI, more students can complete their
education and graduate as employable new workers who will help grow the future
economy.
5. Healthcare
Lastly, AI technology has the potential to assist
healthcare providers in their quest to tackle some of the most prevalent
diseases we face today, as well as improve the quality of life for Asia’s
growing population.
In India, Microsoft is collaborating with one of the
largest health organizations in the country, Apollo Hospitals, to develop an
AI-focused network aimed at tackling cardiovascular disease, which contributes
to nearly one-third of deaths worldwide. In India alone, nearly three million
heart attacks happen annually, and it is estimated that 30 million Indians
suffer from coronary disease.
By bringing together Microsoft’s AI expertise and Apollo
Hospitals’ experience and knowledge in the field of cardiology, this
partnership aims to develop new machine learning models to predict patient risk
for heart diseases and assists doctors with treatment plans.
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Video for News Center: Apollo Hospitals India: AI predicts heart diseases
These are just some of the amazing benefits that AI is bringing
to society, though it’s clear that it is still in a nascent stage of its
development. The story of AI is still unfolding, and future chapters will be
supported by positive, impactful anecdotes. After all, with AI, we are not just
amplifying human ingenuity, but the qualities that make us human: Our caring.
Our curiosity. Our collective desire to create a better tomorrow.
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