Do you have an idea that could improve and empower the lives of everyone in a more accessible way? Or perhaps you have an idea that would help create a sustainable balance between modern society and the environment? Even if it’s just the kernel of an idea, it’s a concept worth exploring with the AI for Good Idea Challenge!
If you’re a developer, a data scientist, a student of AI, or even just passionate about AI and machine learning, we encourage you to take part in the AI for Good: Developer challenge and improve the world by sharing your ideas. Upload your project today and be in the running to win some truly exciting prizes!
What is the AI for Good: Idea challenge?
The challenge is to come up with an idea that uses AI for the greater good, for example improve environmental sustainability, or help to empower people with disabilities. We’re accepting submissions between now and June 26, 2019, so get your thinking cap on!
Below are some thought starters on AI for sustainability and accessibility topics.
Environmental sustainability ideas could focus around:
- Agriculture: Helping to monitor health of farms, crop protection.
- Biodiversity: Accelerating the discovery, monitoring, and protection of biodiversity across our planet.
- Climate change: Giving people more accurate climate predictions to help reduce the potential impacts.
- Water: Intelligent systems to analyze water, modelling the Earth's water supply to help us conserve and protect fresh water.
Ideas around the empowerment of people with disabilities could address:
- Employment: Helping people develop professional skills, influencing workplace culture and inclusive hiring.
- Daily life: Using AI for hearing, seeing, and reasoning with increased accuracy to help people with everyday tasks.
- Communication and connection: Ensuring equal access to information and opportunities for all people regardless of how they listen, speak, or write.
What can I win?
As well as the opportunity to have their idea fully developed and showcased on Microsoft’s AI Lab website, the winners of the contest will receive the following:
| For the 1st place, $10,000 Azure credits and a Surface Book 2. |  |
| For the 2nd place, $5,000 Azure credits and a Nvidia GPU Quadro K6000. |  |
| For the 3rd place, $2,500 Azure credits and an XBOX-One. |  |
How is it judged?
In a nutshell, the ideas you’d submit will be judged by a panel of Microsoft experts based on the originality of your idea and its potential impact on society (50 percent), the feasibility of your solution (20 percent), and the complexity to implement (30 percent).
The selection process is the following:
1. Submit your entry
Upload your project. Follow the instructions to register and submit your entry.
2. Idea review
A panel of Microsoft judges will review your submission.
3. Winner announcement
Winners will be announced within 14 days after contest closes.
4. Prizes
The top three winners of the Idea Challenge will win great prizes and a chance to present their fully developed idea on Microsoft’s AI Lab website.
How do I get started?
Don’t know where to start? Want some more ideas? Check out the AI Idea Challenge cheat sheet on AI School for some tips on what’s out there. If you already have an idea, feel free to submit it here for your chance to win.
Happy coding!
For additional details, see the contest Terms and Conditions.