EcoHealth Alliance to collaborate with Microsoft’s AI for Earth on pandemic prevention

EcoHealth Alliance has teamed up with Microsoft’s AI for Earth program to develop new tools to detect and prevent outbreaks of new and emerging diseases in an effort to bring about an end to the Pandemic Era.

Under the partnership, EcoHealth Alliance will receive a grant and will have access to Microsoft’s computational resources and teams over the next year. The goal is for EcoHealth Alliance to leverage Microsoft’s AI tools to strengthen its ability to conduct automated risk analysis for outbreaks.

“In such a connected world, disease outbreaks can move fast; fortunately, artificial intelligence can move faster,” EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak said. “That’s why we’re excited to join the AI for Earth roster and to fully utilize Microsoft’s computational resources to fight new and emerging diseases.”

Expanding automated risk analysis capacity could enable EcoHealth Alliance to scan millions of scientific articles and extract critical information that can help conduct automated risk assessments and build out the most complete database of global disease outbreaks in the world.

As a nonprofit organization, EcoHealth Alliance has focused its resources on the intersection of human, animal and environmental health. The group previously demonstrated that global deforestation accounts for 31 percent of emerging disease outbreaks.