Mountain View (CA), .- A Colombian and a Brazilian project are among the twenty winners, released today, of the “Google AI Impact Challenge” contest, organized by the company to promote initiatives that use artificial intelligence for good of humanity.
The contest was especially aimed at non-profit organizations, academics and social enterprises from around the world and the requirement that projects must meet is that they help address “some of the biggest social, humanitarian and environmental problems in the world” through artificial intelligence .
Between the two Latin American teams Рthe Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario (Colombia) and Hand Talk Servi̤os LTDA (Brazil) Рand the other 18 winners will be distributed $ 25 million in scholarships, credits and consulting from Google Cloud, as well as a mentoring by experts in artificial intelligence.
Google received 2,602 applications from 119 countries that addressed all kinds of problems, such as climate change, presented by both small non-profit organizations and prestigious universities around the world.
The company said it had “exhaustively” examined the applications and chosen “the best projects based on viability, impact potential, scalability and responsible use” of artificial intelligence.
The Colombian project, presented by the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, focused on the poor environmental practices of illegal mines that contaminate the community’s drinking water and endanger local workers.
The researchers will use satellite images to detect illegal mines across the country, “which will allow communities and the government to take measures to protect people and natural resources,” Google said in a statement.
The initiative presented by the Brazilian team Hand Talk Serviços LTDA, on the other hand, is aimed at deaf and hard of hearing people who have difficulties in reading and writing and who depend to a large extent on sign language to communicate.
Hand Talk will use artificial intelligence to translate Portuguese into Brazilian sign language using a digital avatar called Hugo, which allows digital communication for deaf and hard of hearing people, and which also increases the learning of Brazilian sign language.
Next week, the winners will meet in San Francisco (California) for the launch of the “Google AI Impact Challenge Accelerator”, the six-month program carried out by Google Developers’s Launchpad. (EFEUSA)
