The Human Side of AI Innovation
“AI Appreciation Day” took place a few weeks ago, on July 16. The premise is unusual. Do we really need a holiday to celebrate algorithms? It might sound strange, and to be fair, it is. The holiday was created in 2021 by a marketing company promoting a science fiction film.
But it does open the door to a more meaningful conversation. Much of the discourse around AI today focuses on business outcomes, shareholder value, and the race to AGI. But it is worth remembering that many people have spent their careers advancing this technology not for hype or headlines but to make the world a better place. And beyond the bottom line, AI has already changed lives in healthcare, education, accessibility, and humanitarian response. That is the part of the story I think we should talk more about.
From Technology to Intention
In my contribution to Solutions Review’s AI Appreciation Day feature, I emphasized that while AI continues to transform business outcomes, the deeper story is about how we use these tools:
“ “AI has completely changed how businesses operate. It streamlines processes and helps teams make smarter decisions, leading to better customer outcomes. However, it is important that every day, not just on AI Appreciation Day, we honor the people who tirelessly dedicate their time, knowledge, and drive to building and leveraging these technologies. Their work ensures that AI is a tool for efficiency and a force that can make the world a better place. It is now our responsibility to use this technology with intention, keeping it human-centric, transparent, and ethical, so it can continue to drive meaningful impact.””
Lately I have found myself reflecting on the ways AI has been applied not just to drive business outcomes but to take on real global challenges. And just as importantly I have been thinking about the people who helped make that possible.
I have always believed that the pioneers of AI, the researchers who laid the foundation for deep learning and neural networks, were not in it to build meeting summarization tools or code assistants. Don’t get me wrong, those applications have their benefits, but they were never the end goal. This technology was envisioned as something far more ambitious: a force to accelerate scientific discovery, improve healthcare, expand opportunity, reduce inequality, and tackle the kinds of problems that once felt impossible to solve.
While I cannot highlight everyone who has made a meaningful impact, I wanted to share a few individuals whose work continues to shape AI for the greater good.
Suchi Saria
She developed an AI-powered sepsis detection platform now deployed across dozens of U.S. hospitals, reducing sepsis mortality by approximately 18 %. Her team also created predictive tools that enable individualized diagnostic and treatment planning, like identifying high-risk preterm infants with 90 % accuracy, from large-scale clinical data sets
Yoshua Bengio
Co-founder of the Quebec AI Institute, Bengio is a pioneer of deep learning who has consistently advocated for AI that serves the public good. His work spans health research, climate forecasting, and socially beneficial applications of machine learning.
Timnit Gebru
Founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), Gebru has been one of the leading voices in ethical AI. Her work has reshaped how the field understands fairness, transparency, and the real-world consequences of algorithmic decision-making.
Andrew Ng
Through AI Fund, Ng has focused on making AI practical and accessible. His work bridges innovation with implementation in areas like diagnostics, manufacturing, and workforce education.
Joy Buolamwini
As founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Buolamwini exposed racial and gender bias in commercial facial recognition systems. Her advocacy continues to push the industry toward more inclusive, rights-respecting AI development.
Where AI Is Changing Lives
AI’s most powerful contributions are not found in conference keynotes or quarterly reports. They happen in clinics, schools, humanitarian centers, and underserved communities. These examples show the technology at its best, addressing needs that truly matter.
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Autonomous Mobile Clinics (AICOM). These mobile clinics deploy AI-powered diagnostic tools on low-cost smartphones to screen for diseases like monkeypox and other primary care conditions in remote regions. Designed for communities with minimal connectivity, AICOM helps deliver early detection and treatment via open-source AI systems
Butterfly Network developed a portable ultrasound device powered by AI that works with a smartphone. It allows clinicians in remote or low-income settings to capture and interpret medical images, even without specialist training.
Equity and Accessibility
Be My Eyes partnered with OpenAI to launch an AI-powered assistant that helps blind and low-vision users understand their surroundings, read menus, navigate interfaces, and interact with the physical world more independently.
Unbabel, a translation platform using AI, supports refugees and humanitarian responders with multilingual communication in real time. This helps displaced people navigate healthcare, legal systems, and emergency services in unfamiliar regions.
Voiceitt developed an AI-powered speech recognition app for people with nonstandard speech patterns, such as those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or stroke-related conditions. The tool enables clearer communication by translating their speech into standard speech in real time, increasing independence and inclusion.
Humanitarian Response and Poverty Alleviation
Hello Tractor, based in Kenya, connects smallholder farmers with available tractors using AI. This model boosts food production, reduces manual labor, and creates economic opportunity, especially for women-led farms in rural areas.
Wadhwani AI developed an AI-powered pest management tool that helps smallholder cotton farmers in India detect early infestations using simple smartphone photos. The system reduces crop loss and pesticide overuse, improving income and food security in underserved communities.
Balancing Profit and Purpose
Much of the conversation around AI continues to focus on business outcomes, operational gains, and competitive positioning. But that is only part of the story. Some of the most meaningful uses of this technology are the ones improving access to care, learning, mobility, and opportunity, especially for communities that have long been underserved.
There is room to build AI that delivers both business value and broader social benefit. In many cases, the two go hand in hand.
We may not need a holiday to celebrate AI. But every now and then, it is worth stepping back to look at how it is being used and where it is quietly making a difference.
