Giving Compass' Take:

• Microsoft's new “AI for Accessibility” grant program will help to develop AI to serve people with disabilities around the world. 

• What are the needs of people with disabilities around the world? How can these products help people with disabilities who do not have access to the internet? 

• Read about leveraging AI for the good of humanity. 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off the annual Microsoft Build conference for software developers in Seattle by announcing the company will dedicate $25 million to improving artificial intelligence for people with disabilities.

The grant initiative is called “AI for Accessibility,” and its goal is to develop technology to better serve the more than one billion people living with disabilities around the world.

The funding will help developers create innovative tools that can see, hear, speak, and better understand people’s needs.

"We should be asking not only what computers can do, but what computers should do," Nadella said at the conference. "That time has come."

AI for Accessibility will provide seed grants to developers, universities, NGOs, and inventors working on tools that will better assist people with disabilities with work, life, and human connections, according to the program’s site.

Read the full article about AI for Accessibility by Jackie Marchildon at Global Citizen.