Science fiction like the movie franchise Terminator often shows artificial intelligence (A.I.) at its worse. But Microsoft is dedicated to pushing A.I. for good.
Companies like Microsoft and Google are investing millions in an all-out war to advance A.I. Ironically, as aggressive as this war is, many of the outcomes being pursued are aimed at improving the human condition, making business processes more efficient and making computing more personal. Still even with these altruistic goals in view tech leaders like former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Tesla's Elon Musk and the late physicist Steven Hawking raised concerns about the potential harm A.I. could cause humanity. If maliciously employed or evolved beyond our control A.I. could, they believed, do irreparable harm.
In response, organizations have been created to provide oversight and accountability to temper A.I.'s development by providing ethical parameters. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella notably precursored his 2016 introduction of Microsoft's A.I.-driven cameras with a reference to George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 and an admonishing for technology's responsible use. He realized both the real dangers unethical AI use can pose and the legitimate concerns that are being raised as AI becomes increasingly part of our reality.
It is against this backdrop that Microsoft has initiated its AI for Good campaign. In a context where A.I. development seems to be a lightly supervised "wild west-like" conquest where the outcomes could range from good to a terrifying abuse of power, Microsoft is trying to arrest the narrative. It is getting ahead of fears with a concerted multi-faceted, multi-million-dollar program that promotes AI's use to help the earth, the disabled, children and humanity as a whole. In doing so Microsoft is promoting a clear narrative everyone around the world can understand and see as beneficially relevant to them. This potentially reduces fears and resistance to A.I., encourages support of its advancement and positions Microsoft in a beneficial light as one of the tech leaders advancing A.I. A.I. for Humanitarian Action is the most recent prong in this multi-pronged strategy.
Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...
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