6 ways AI is making a difference in the world

by Vanessa Ho

AI is changing the world in remarkable ways, from improving health care and education to making life easier for people with disabilities. It’s transforming how people live and work, and its ability to analyze large amounts of complex data is enabling scientists to study the Amazon rainforest in Colombia, helping sugar cane farmers optimize crops in India and more.  

Here are six ways Microsoft AI is bringing positive change around the world.

Two medical professionals in white lab coats working together at a computer station in a clinical setting. One doctor is pointing at the screen while the other types on the keyboard.

Helping medical providers improve care

Documenting and reviewing patient information — chart notes, test results, medical history — can be time-consuming for health care providers. AI is streamlining the work so they can give better care, spend more time with patients and reduce burnout.

In Taiwan, Chi Mei Medical Center’s AI assistants,built with Azure OpenAI Service, are helping doctors, nurses and pharmacists find information, summarize data and generate reports. In the U.S., the Providence health care organization is working with Microsoft on prototype AI tools for oncologists to analyze patient data from sources like text, images and genomic information with a goal of giving cancer patients personalized and precise treatments faster.

Microsoft Research and Mayo Clinic are also developing AI models that integrate text and images to explore how AI can help doctors analyze radiology results more quickly and accurately.
A teacher in a maroon sweatshirt engaging in a discussion with two young students in a classroom setting.

Transforming learning at school and work

AI has the potential to make teaching, learning and job training more personalized and effective. More than 400,000 teachers in over 50 countries have used an AI-powered teaching assistant from Khan Academy that helps create innovative lesson plans — like chemistry experiments using everyday items, or writing stories based on Shakespeare — to make learning more engaging and give teachers more time and energy for students.

Many schools like De Wereldreiziger in Belgium are using AI-powered apps like Microsoft’s Reading Progress to help students practice their reading. The company’s other educational tools, including Reading Coach and Search Coach, are also helping students with important skills.

And Pearson, an organization dedicated to training and education, is working with Microsoft to expand personalized learning and AI-enabled services to people around the world.

Improving weather forecasts and disaster responses

When weather-related and other disasters strike, AI can provide essential information to frontline workers. Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab has developed models to analyze satellite images for visual damage after floods, earthquakes and other disasters, including the recent wildfires in Los Angeles. The lab shares its assessments to help responders prioritize and provide aid.

And as the need to prepare for extreme weather becomes more urgent, a new AI model of the atmosphere is making weather forecasts more accurate, versatile and accessible.

The large-scale model from Microsoft Research, called Aurora, can perform in remote and other “data-sparse” areas and with lower computational costs, allowing developing regions to access critical weather and climate information more easily. The model can also accurately predict air pollution levels and will be able to efficiently predict weather over a range of time, from minutes to years.
A brown monkey with a dark face and light fur around its head sits on a tree branch in a dense, green rainforest.

Monitoring and protecting biodiversity

The world’s forests and wildlife populations have dwindled over the decades, but AI is helping conservationists measure biodiversity and preserve what remains.

In the Amazon rainforest — home to millions of species of plants and wildlife — Microsoft and researchers are using AI models to monitor deforestation and protect biodiversity through satellite imagery, camera traps and bioacoustics. Project Guacamaya helps identify patterns of deforestation faster, allowing quicker action to protect at-risk areas.

An AI edge computing solution called SPARROW will be able to capture and analyze wildlife sounds and images and transmit the data via satellite in real time. Developed by Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, the solar-powered devices will allow researchers to gather key data from some of the world’s most hard-to-reach places.
A farmer in a white shirt closely examines a green leaf in a field.

Helping farmers optimize harvests

Farming comes with major risks, from climate change to disease, but AI is helping sugar cane farmers in Indiafine-tune how they handle them. They’re using an AI tool that analyzes weather, soil, satellite and other data and provides recommendations for watering, fertilizing and other practices to get the most out of their crops in a sustainable way.

The Agricultural Development Trust of Baramati built the tool with Project FarmVibes,a Microsoft open-source toolkit for using AI to turn farm data into insights and actions. The sugar cane farmers’ tool also uses Azure Data Manager for Agriculture, where developers can build AI assistants that can answer questions about a farmer’s crops and fields.
A man in a white shirt uses a smartphone.

Breaking down barriers for people with disabilities

People who are neurodivergent or living with a disability are finding that AI can help employees with the unique challenges they face at work, according to a recentsurvey.

Participants shared that Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI assistant for work, helps them write, read and understand email and meeting summaries. More than 75% said the tool improves their quality of work and helps them feel better about their performance and inclusion in the workplace.

AI is also helping people through research like Find My Things, which helps people with vision disabilities teach an AI system to recognize personal items like earbuds or a cane and give cues for finding them. The tool is available in Seeing AI, Microsoft’s intelligent camera app that narrates surroundings for people with a vision disability.

And AI is making it easier for people to use speech to code, get access to better job opportunities, simplify the creation of prosthetic devices and help with many other challenges.

Lead video by SimonSkafar / Vetta / Getty Images. Other images, top to bottom, by Billy H.C. Kwok for Microsoft, Chris Welsch for Microsoft, Microsoft Research, Richard McManus / Moment / Getty Images, Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Microsoft and SolStock / E+ / Getty Images.

Story published on February 26, 2025

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