Why Microsoft teams up with AI startup Synthetaic (which tracked the Chinese spy balloon)
Microsoft has announced a partnership to provide cloud computing resources to Synthetaic. The startup independently tracked the Chinese spy balloon's path across the United States before it was shot down.
Microsoft signs a new partnership with AI startup Synthetaic, specialized in the analysis of geospatial data.
Under the five-year dealannounced Aug. 29, the Redmond-based tech giant will give Synthetaic access to nearly 1 million hours (roughly 114 years) of Microsoft Azure cloud computing resources.
The Wisconsin-based company said it would bolster its Rapid Automatic Image Categorization, or RAIC, software built on the Microsoft Azure cloud, which allows users to mine vast collections of photos and other visuals for specific items.
Aerial images are an increasingly important resource that governments, analysts and hobbyists draw on to monitor their surrounding environments. Satellite imagery companies have gained a lot of attention in recent months. Their satellite images have in fact played a key role in press coverage of the war in Ukraine.
All the details.
THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN MICROSOFT AND SYNTHETAIC ON THE CLOUD
Synthetaic will work with Microsoft Azure Space on “new solutions for processing geospatial, static and video imagery for homeland security, disaster response, and environmental and sustainability operations,” said Corey Jaskolski, founder and CEO of Synthetaic.
WHAT THE STARTUP OF GEOSTATIONARY DATA ANALYSIS DOES
Earlier this year Synthetaic rose to prominence after it used artificial intelligence and Planet Labs ' satellite imagery archive to independently track the Chinese spy balloon's path across the United States before it was shot down .
IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE AIR FORCE FOR THE RAIC INSTRUMENT
As C4ISRNET recalls, in an interview with the newspaper released last May, Jaskolski declared that Synthetaic already had several government clients. The company was also in talks with the Air Force "about trying to use RAIC on things like MQ-9 drone data," according to CEO Jaskolski. With a range of 1,800 kilometers and the possibility of reaching an altitude of 15,000 metres, the MQ-9 'Reaper', originally known as Predator B, is a "remotely piloted aircraft" developed by the US General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI ).
AVAILABLE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Through the partnership with Microsoft, the data analysis tool RAIC will be made available to government agencies through the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud.
“Agencies can leverage artificial intelligence while meeting the high security and compliance standards required for sensitive government data,” Microsoft said in the statement. “AI has the power to unlock a huge amount of information and insights in the massive amount of data collected by governments and organizations around the world,” said Jason Zander, executive vice president of strategic missions and technologies of Microsoft.
“Through this partnership with Synthetaic, we are combining our latest advances in artificial intelligence with their data analytics tools to help expand our understanding of our world,” concluded Zander.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-microsoft-si-allea-con-la-startup-di-ai-synthetaic-che-traccio-il-pallone-spia-cinese/ on Wed, 30 Aug 2023 13:23:33 +0000.