Microsoft, Amazon, Google join fight to prevent famine, tap AI tech

Technology giants Microsoft, Amazon and Google join forces with international organizations to help identify and prevent famines in developing nations through data analysis and artificial intelligence, a new initiative presented on Sunday.

Instead of waiting to respond to a famine after many lives have been lost, technology companies "will use the predictive power of data to activate financing" to take action before it becomes a crisis, the World Bank announced. and the United Nations statement.

"The fact that millions of people, many of them children, still suffer from severe malnutrition and famine in the 21st century is a global tragedy," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. "We are forming an unprecedented global coalition to say, 'no more.'"

Last year more than 20 million people faced famine conditions in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, while 124 million people are currently living at crisis levels of food insecurity, which require urgent humanitarian assistance for their survival, they said. the agencies. More than half of them live in areas affected by the conflict.

The Famine Action Mechanism (FAM) will provide early warning signs to identify food crises that could become famine and trigger pre-established funding plans to allow early intervention.

"If we can better predict when and where future famines will occur, we can save lives by responding more quickly and effectively," Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a statement.

Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and other technology firms are providing experience to develop a set of analytical models called "Artemis" that uses AI and machine learning to estimate and forecast the worsening of food security crises in real time. These forecasts will help guide and promote decision makers to respond sooner.

"Artificial intelligence and machine learning hold great promise for forecasting and detecting the first signs of food shortages, such as crop failures, droughts, natural disasters and conflicts," Smith said.

The FAM will be initially implemented in a small group of vulnerable countries that will be formed to provide global coverage. On October 13, leaders dedicated to this initiative will meet as part of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bali, Indonesia, to discuss further implementation.