Microsoft’s AI-assisted damage assessment plays a vital role in the aftermath of the Myanmar earthquake
Shortly after sunrise on Saturday, the satellite set up a long-range camera in Mandalay, Myanmar.Friday’s 7.7 Magnitude EarthquakeIt devastated the country in Southeast AsiaThe second largest city.
The mission was to capture images combined with itArtificial Intelligence Technologyhelps rescue organizations quickly assess how many buildings have collapsed, severely damaged, and where helpers are most needed.
At first, the high-tech computer vision approach was not working.
“The biggest challenge in this particular case was clouds,” said Juan Lavista Ferres, chief data scientist at Microsoft. “There’s no way to see the clouds with this technology.”
The clouds eventually moved, and it took another satellite from San Francisco-based Planet Labs to capture the aerial photograph and send it to Microsoft’sCharitable AI for a good lab. By then, it was already around 11pm on Friday at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. A group of Microsoft workers were ready and waiting for data.
AI for Good Lab has done this type of AI assist damage rating before.Devastating floods in Libya2023 orThis year’s wildfireIn Los Angeles. However, rather than relying on a standard AI computer vision model that can run visual data, we had to build a customized version unique to Mandalay.
“The Earth is so different, natural disasters are different, and the images obtained from satellites are so different to work in any situation,” La Vista Ferez said. For example, while fires spread in a rather predictable way, they said, “Earthquakes touch the entire city.”
one timeAI analysis completed515 buildings in Mandalay showed 80% to 100% damage, and an additional 1,524 with 20% to 80% damage. It showedThe broad gravity of disastershowever, equally important, can help you identify the location of a particular damage.
“This is important information for the team on the ground,” La Vista Ferez said.
Microsoft warned that “it should serve as a preliminary guide and requires ground verification for full understanding.” But in the meantime, tech companies have shared their analytics with aid groups such as the Red Cross.
Planet Labs says its satellites — 15 of them orbiting Earth — have been filming around 12 locations in Myanmar and Thailand since shivering Friday.
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com