Microsoft’s AI for Good Open Call offered $5 million in Azure service credits—not $5 million in unrestricted cash—for public-interest AI projects based in or benefiting Washington state. Announced January 22, 2025, the two-year program is now closed; Microsoft announced 20 awardees on April 29, 2025. Recipients also had the opportunity to collaborate with scientists from Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab.
What Microsoft offered
The AI for Good Open Call was a Washington-focused program for applying AI to social and scientific challenges. Microsoft described the commitment as a grant program, but its program page specifies that the $5 million was provided as Azure service credits. The credits could support eligible cloud workloads, alongside opportunities to collaborate with AI for Good Lab scientists over a two-year period. Microsoft’s launch announcement and program page describe the initiative.
The call was part of Microsoft’s 50th-anniversary activities and its broader regional effort, branded “One Future. One Sound.” Microsoft’s anniversary date was April 4, 2025. The company presented the program as an investment in the Washington communities and research ecosystem connected to its home state. Microsoft’s Puget Sound page outlines that regional framing.
Who could apply, and what projects fit?
The opportunity was not restricted to software startups. Microsoft identified nonprofits, academic institutions, individual researchers, startups and mission-aligned businesses as potential applicants. Projects needed to be based in Washington or benefit the state and its residents.
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Applicants were expected to propose an innovative, feasible and scalable use of AI with meaningful social or scientific potential, and to explain how Azure could help deploy or scale it. Launch materials named sustainability, public health, education and human rights; the program page emphasized sustainability, public health and human rights. Microsoft later grouped selected projects under sustainability, health, and education/public good. These labels differ across program stages, but the shared focus was AI for public-interest challenges.
From announcement to awardees
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| January 22, 2025 | Microsoft announced the AI for Good Open Call. |
| February 17, 2025 | Application deadline reported by GeekWire’s launch coverage. |
| March 18, 2025 | Notification date reported by GeekWire. Microsoft’s program page separately said awardees would be announced after March 20, so early materials gave different expectations. |
| April 4, 2025 | Microsoft’s 50th anniversary. |
| April 29, 2025 | Microsoft announced 20 awardees. |
The application period has ended, and the cohort has been announced. Microsoft’s current program page says applications are closed. The stated support period was two years; the award announcement does not establish how much of that period each project has completed.
The 20 selected projects
Microsoft’s awardee announcement names the organizations and describes their proposed work. The descriptions below are project aims, not evidence that a system has been validated or deployed at scale.
Sustainability
| Awardee | Project focus described by Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Stock-Smart.com — Washington State University Extension | Using AI to support ecological grazing and reduce wildfire risk. |
| Long Live the Kings | Modeling Puget Sound ecosystems. |
| TealWaters | Supporting wetlands restoration. |
| Washington State University wildfire-vulnerability project | Assessing wildfire vulnerability. |
| Cornell University Circular Construction Lab — AR3-Lumber | Supporting reuse of salvaged lumber. |
| Woodland Park Zoo — Seattle Urban Carnivore Project | Monitoring urban wildlife. |
| Conservation X Labs | Detecting wildlife disease. |
| NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service — Habitat Conservation | Supporting salmon habitat and wetland classification. |
| University of Washington ICTD | Monitoring biodiversity with audiovisual sensors. |
Health
| Awardee | Project focus described by Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Virufy / Covid Detection Foundation | Developing pneumonia screening for residential-care settings; the announcement does not establish clinical effectiveness. |
| Providence — Trial Connect | Matching patients with clinical trials. |
| Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation | Forecasting drought and food-insecurity risks. |
| University of Washington Radiology | Translating radiology reports into language patients can understand. |
| Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington | Developing open-source biomolecule and protein-design models. |
| Washington State University Department of Chemistry | Developing data and models for soil decontamination around Spokane and Hanford. |
Education and public good
| Awardee | Project focus described by Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Washington State University rural-science assessment project | Using AI-assisted science assessments in rural elementary schools. |
| Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington | Automating donation intake and cataloging. |
| Washington State University Group Argumentation Coordinator | Supporting classroom science argumentation. |
| Washington State University WARNS project | Extending a student risk-and-needs assessment to elementary grades. |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound | Improving mentor matching and addressing a lengthy family waitlist. |
What Azure credits can—and cannot—pay for
Azure credits subsidize eligible Microsoft cloud use, such as computing for training or running AI models, storage and data processing. They can lower the infrastructure barrier for a project that needs substantial computing capacity. Their practical value depends on the Azure services and resources a recipient uses.
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Credits are not flexible operating funds. They do not, by themselves, cover salaries, fieldwork, hardware, clinical operations, community engagement, compliance work or evaluation. Nor do they establish that Microsoft built, operates, validates or endorses a recipient’s system. GeekWire reported that the pool was expected to support roughly 20 projects, but the public announcements do not establish equal awards or a fixed amount per recipient. It would therefore be misleading to divide $5 million by 20 and call the result a cash grant.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the announcements do not establish
The public launch and award announcements describe the program and project goals, but do not provide a project-by-project accounting of credits or implementation results. They do not establish how much credit each awardee received or used, which projects reached pilots or public deployment, what outcomes were measured, or whether the work will continue after the two-year support period.
Those details matter particularly for projects involving health, education, children or environmental decisions. An AI proposal is not, on its own, proof of clinical accuracy, fairness, safety or readiness for consequential use. A meaningful assessment of results would need information about validation, privacy and security protections, human oversight, independent evaluation, and plans for operating after credits expire. The announcements also do not say whether Microsoft will run another Washington-specific call.
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