Microsoft has announced a new biodiversity initiative to collect environmental data from around the world that will be available through a global computer. The new initiative was revealed by Microsoft President Brad Smith, who said the company would provide its Earth AI community with access to environmental data sets from around the world. The software giant will also give the community access to an IT platform where they can analyze these data sets. AI for Earth was first launched in 2017, and the initiative provides AI tools and skills to help solve global environmental challenges. However, the AI for Earth community requires much broader access to data, machine learning tools, and the ability to share work with others. Smith provided more detail on why Microsoft wants to create a planetary computer in a blog post, saying, "Our community needs a new kind of computing platform: a planetary computer, a platform that provides access to billions of data points collected by people and machines in space, in the sky, in and on the ground, and in the water. One that would allow users to search by geographic location instead of keyword. Where users can seamlessly transition from asking a question about environments in their area of interest, to asking where a particular environment exists in the world A platform that would allow users to provide new types of answers to new types of questions by providing access to advanced machine learning tools and the ability to publish new results and forecasts as services available to the global community."