‘Humans and AI’ Ask Me Anything: Nicolas Villar on using AI as a force of good

Nicolas Villar, a principal hardware architect for Project Premonition, peers through a magnifying glass

In August, we introduced Humans and AI, a new series of stories that highlight the people who make innovation matter. The series features passionate people from all walks of life who are using AI to transform our society and our world for the better.

Our next episode of “Humans and AI” features Nicolas Villar, a principal hardware architect for Microsoft Premonition, an early warning system that monitors the environment for signs of epidemics. Villar is building robotic devices to capture and track disease-carrying mosquitoes – a threat he understands well after living in places where mosquito-borne illnesses are a daily concern.

Villar’s past projects include Code Jumper, a physical programming language designed to be inclusive of children with all ranges of vision. He considers himself a maker who loves using technology to bring ideas to life to help others and solve problems.

Want to know more about Villar or his work? Check out the feed from his Twitter Takeover on Microsoft Research.