Google: 4 ways AI can help our society

Currently, we know that Google is trying to implement AI tools in most aspects of our lives. That’s why the company is working hard to help people facing disease and natural disasters and to provide new opportunities for underserved communities. 

As you see, AI and transformational innovations have become more important in confronting some of society’s biggest challenges. For that reason, we’re going to show you what AI is doing for us and how it can help us every day. Let’s get started!

Google is using AI provide new opportunities

1. Forecasting floods and helping people stay safe through early warning systems

According to some reports from the United Nations, half of the world lacks adequate early warning systems for disasters like floods and fires. Furthermore, research shows that the number of people impacted by climate-related crises and the damage they cause is only increasing. In response, we need lifesaving technology to help people stay safe and governments adequately prepare.

Thus, Google has been developing a flood forecasting program with which the company claims to cover dozens of countries from forecast information in Search and Maps, sending alerts to mobile devices to notify people in danger. Besides, they explained that their FloodHub features detailed inundation maps so people can see exactly what to expect in their location. Did you know about these apps?

2. Detecting real-time wildfire boundaries to aid in firefighting

In second place we have another important AI feature that can provide us with exact models to detect wildfire boundaries in real time. By using satellite imagery to create AI models, the company could apply this kind of technology in more than 30 wildfires in the U.S. and Canada, which helped inform local residents and firefighters. Moreover, they have announced that they’ve now expanded to Mexico and parts of Australia as well.

3. Monitoring prenatal health

It’s time to talk about the high global maternal mortality rates. In the past few years, at least 295.000 women passed away during, following pregnancy and childbirthing in 2017, most from causes that could have been treated or prevented with adequate healthcare.

Ultrasounds, for example, have become a routine part of prenatal care for many, but are still difficult to access in low-resource settings, due in part to a lack of adequately trained healthcare workers.

For that reason, Google is working with Northwestern Medicine to develop and test AI models to enable lightly trained ultrasound operators in low-resource settings to accurately identify potential problems and risks, such as fetal positioning.

4. Helping people with non-standard speech connect and be understood

Okay and even if this is not the last tool that Google has recently presented for us, we think it’s importat to present it to you, as it is very useful in terms of communication. There are millions of people who have difficulty being understood when they speak. 

However, nothing represents a real challenge for Google and with their new initiative “project relate” in Android they are willing to expand the audience they want to help with their tools. You see, this is an Android app built on AI research that helps people with non-standard speech communicate more easily with others.

On the other hand, it can transcribe speech into text, use a synthesized voice to repeat what’s been said, or communicate directly with the speaker’s Google Assistant to complete any number of tasks, from playing a song to turning the lights on.

Final thoughts 

Well, of course these are not all the new tools in which the company has worked on but it’s a clear example of how technology is changing our lives and how we can make good use of it.