AI for Good: Applications in

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AI for the Good: Artificial Intelligence and Ethics

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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Foreword
Introduction
A Call to Action
Part I: Primer on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Chapter 1: What Is Artificial Intelligence and How Can It Be
Used for Good?
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
What If Artificial Intelligence Were Used to Improve
Societal Good?
Chapter 2: Artificial Intelligence: Its Application and
Limitations
Why Now?
The Challenges and Lessons Learned from Using
Artificial Intelligence
Large Language Models
Chapter 3: Commonly Used Processes and Terms
Common Processes
Commonly Used Measures
The Structure of the Book
Part II: Sustainability
Chapter 4: Deep Learning with Geospatial Data
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
 Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 5: Nature-Dependent Tourism
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 6: Wildlife Bioacoustics Detection
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 7: Using Satellites to Monitor Whales from Space
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 8: Social Networks of Giraffes
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 9: Data-driven Approaches to Wildlife Conflict
Mitigation in the Maasai Mara
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 10: Mapping Industrial Poultry Operations at Scale
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 11: Identifying Solar Energy Locations in India
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 12: Mapping Glacial Lakes
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 13: Forecasting and Explaining Degradation of
Solar Panels with AI
 Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Part III: Humanitarian Action
Chapter 14: Post-Disaster Building Damage Assessment
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 15: Dwelling Type Classification
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 16: Damage Assessment Following the 2023
Earthquake in Turkey
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 17: Food Security Analysis
Executive Summary
 Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 18: BankNote-Net: Open Dataset for Assistive
Universal Currency Recognition
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 19: Broadband Connectivity
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 20: Monitoring the Syrian War with Natural
Language Processing
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 21: The Proliferation of Misinformation Online
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
 Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 22: Unlocking the Potential of AI with Open Data
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Part IV: Health
Chapter 23: Detecting Middle Ear Disease
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 24: Detecting Leprosy in Vulnerable Populations
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 25: Automated Segmentation of Prostate Cancer
Metastases
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
 Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 26: Screening Premature Infants for Retinopathy of
Prematurity in Low-Resource Settings
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 27: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 28: Using Artificial Intelligence to Inform
Pancreatic Cyst Management
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 29: NLP-Supported Chatbot for Cigarette Smoking
Cessation
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
 Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 30: Mapping Population Movement Using Satellite
Imagery
Executive Summary
Why Is This Important?
Methods Used
Findings
Discussion
What We Learned
Chapter 31: The Promise of AI and Generative Pre-Trained
Transformer Models in Medicine
What Are GPT Models and What Do They Do?
GPT Models in Medicine
Conclusion
Part V: Summary, Looking Forward, and Additional Resources
Epilogue: Getting Good at AI for Good
Communication
Data
Modeling
Impact
Conclusion
Key Takeaways
AI and Satellites: Critical Tools to Help Us with Planetary
Emergencies
Amazing Things in the Amazon
Quick Help Saving Lives in Disaster Response
Additional Resources
Endnotes
Acknowledgments
 About the Editors
About the Authors
Microsoft's AI for Good Lab
Collaborators
Index
Copyright
Dedication
End User License Agreement

List of Tables
Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Tourism expenditure and visit estimates for beach
and coral reef–d...
Chapter 6
Table 6.1 Text prompts to perform zero-shot classification
for each benchmar...
Table 6.2 Experiment Results on Text Prompts
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Comparison of the Performance of Models Using
Labeled Recent Imag...
Table 12.2 Comparison of the Performance of Models Using
Imagery Labeled in ...
Chapter 17
Table 17.1 Questions and Weights Used to Create Reduced
Coping Strategies In...
Table 17.2 Measures Used to Evaluate the Performance of
the Model, Their Cal...
Table 17.3 Basic Household Demographics and Livelihood
Information
Table 17.4 Performance Scores for the Different Models
Chapter 20
Table 20.1 Typology Used to Classify Events in Syria's Civil
War.
Table 20.2 Accuracy of the Four Classification Models
Chapter 22
Table 22.1 Number of Data Assets in Each of the Top Ten
Open Data Sites
Table 22.2 Top Ten Data File Formats on GitHub
Table 22.3 Number of Data Assets on GitHub by Research
Category
Table 22.4 Percentage of Data Assets Classified by License
Category
Table 22.5 Four GitHub Account Owners that Have
Published Over 40 Million Da...
Chapter 23
Table 23.1 Summary of Internal and External Performance
Between Cohorts to D...
Table 23.2 Summary of Pooled Performance for
Differentiating Normal from Abn...
Chapter 26
Table 26.1 Comparison of the Performance of Our Models
with Pediatric Ophtha...
Chapter 27
Table 27.1 ICD-10 Codes That Were Observed in a
Significantly Higher Proport...
Table 27.2 ICD-10 Codes That Were Significantly
Overrepresented in Each of T...
Chapter 28
Table 28.1 Comparison of the EBM Model (With and
Without CFA) to Recommended...
 Table 28.2 Comparison of the EBM Model to the MOCA
Model, Including CFA Resu...
Chapter 29
Table 29.1 Comparisons of Natural Language Processing
Model Answers to Three...

List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 A scatterplot of home sales price and square
footage, with a tren...
Figure 2.2 The drop in the cost of a hard disk per gigabyte,
1960 to 2015.
Figure 2.3 Proportion of left-handed people in the
population.
Figure 2.4 The relationship between day temperature and
ice cream sales.
Figure 2.5 Directed acyclic graph for three different
scenarios with the sam...
Figure 2.6 A phone rocker device (Amazon.com, Inc.).
Figure 2.7 Trends in public interest: the surge of AI
curiosity.
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 An example of heterogenous geospatial layers
collected from diffe...
Figure 4.2 Examples of geospatial data that have different
projections and s...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 The data collection, processing, modeling, and
mapping process (F...
 Figure 5.2 For five Eastern Caribbean countries, specific use
intensity maps...
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Contrasting conventional supervised learning,
contrastive audio-l...
Figure 6.2 Illustration of fixed window sound event
existence classification...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Trends in the type, number, and mean spatial
resolution of satell...
Figure 7.2 Examples of how high-resolution panchromatic
imagery and lower-re...
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Giraffe in Tanzania, August 2023 (A, V, L
Lavista-Guzman).
Figure 8.2 Both static (left) and dynamic (right) network
clustering demonst...
Figure 8.3 All observations and connections for Masai
giraffes in the Tarang...
Figure 8.4 Transition rates among super-communities for
all giraffes, male g...
Figure 8.5 Mean distances moved from first detection (km)
for male and femal...
Figure 8.6 Spatial distribution of movements from the first
position for eve...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 The region of interest (left), train/validation
splits, and label...
Figure 9.2 Overview of our methodology.
Figure 9.3 The original two images (left/right),
train/validation splits (gr...
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 The labeled Delmarva Peninsula dataset.
Figure 10.2 Examples of false positives (pictures on the left)
and a true ne...
Figure 10.3 A map of poultry CAFOs for the continental
United States (Robins...
Figure 10.4 Modeled predictions of poultry CAFOs in
counties in Delaware and...
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Methods used (Anthony Ortiz et al. 2022 /
Springer Nature / CC B...
Figure 11.2 Map of solar farm locations in India.
Figure 11.3 Map of alternative land uses.
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Examples of two growing glacial lakes at two
time points. The hi...
Figure 12.2 Demonstration of the different models'
predictions against groun...
Figure 12.3 A volcano plot of estimated glacial lake area
changes. Lakes at ...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Overview of DeepDeg: a) The initial hours of
degradation of a ph...
Figure 13.2 Forecasting cross-validation: a) High-accuracy
degradation predi...
Figure 13.3 Held-out test set: a) molecular structure along
with the device ...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 In this Siamese U-Net model architecture, pre-
and post-disaster...
 Figure 14.2 Pre- and post-disaster imagery samples of
different disasters fr...
Figure 14.3 Imagery samples with polygons showing
building edges and greysca...
Figure 14.4 Full screenshots of pre- and post-disaster
images of the 2021 Ha...
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 An overview of the model development process
(Nasir M et al., 20...
Figure 15.2 Examples of our model's results: predicted label
from the model ...
Figure 15.3 An overview of the risk score modeling pipeline
(Nasir M et al.,...
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1 Cities on which we focused our analysis
(Robinson C et al., 2023...
Figure 16.2 Building damage assessment and affected
population estimate work...
Figure 16.3 Extensive damage around the Culture Park area
of Kahra...
Figure 16.4 Several destroyed apartment buildings in
Türkoğlu. G...
Figure 16.5 Demonstration of damage in Nurdağı.
Greytones indica...
Figure 16.6 A set of nine destroyed five-story apartment
buildings in downto...
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 Preparation of the machine learning dataset
where independent va...
Figure 17.2 Overall process used in the study. HH means
households (Gholami ...
 Figure 17.3 Variation in Reduced Coping Strategies Index
scores (Gholami S e...
Figure 17.4 Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis
results, overall (...
Figure 17.5 A map of the location of households for which
the analyses were ...
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 Overview of the BankNote-Net dataset,
including a) the total num...
Figure 18.2 An overview of the approach we used. We used
a convolutional neu...
Figure 18.3 Clustering of individual currencies, which
improves predictive p...
Chapter 19
Figure 19.1 Process for estimating the error introduced by
differential priv...
Figure 19.2 Map of the United States by ZIP Code with
indicators of broadban...
Figure 19.3 Measures of error for several population ranges.
Expected mean a...
Chapter 21
Figure 21.1 A simplified example of a navigation graph
node. Breitbart.com s...
Chapter 22
Figure 22.1 Number of data assets by year added to GitHub
from 2013 to 2022 ...
Chapter 23
Figure 23.1 The processes used to assess internal and
external performance o...
Chapter 24
 Figure 24.1 Model development and testing. (Barbieri RR,
et al., 2022 / With...
Figure 24.2 The ten most important features in the model
(Barbieri RR, et al...
Chapter 25
Figure 25.1 The impact of adding additional neighboring
slices on detection ...
Figure 25.2 Evaluation metrics comparing Dice loss and
weighted Dice loss ap...
Figure 25.3 Model performance as a function of different
measures of the les...
Chapter 26
Figure 26.1 Procedure followed to capture a video of the
retina using a low-...
Figure 26.2 A retinal image as seen in the smartphone-
based video collection...
Figure 26.3 An example of our ROP mobile application
output after it was use...
Chapter 27
Figure 27.1 Methods for identifying cohorts examined. In A,
comorbidities we...
Figure 27.2 Social determinants of health variables that
were statistically ...
Chapter 28
Figure 28.1 Two-step clinical management approach based
on an AI model witho...
Chapter 29
Figure 29.1 An overview of the QuitBot's architecture for
handling freeform ...
Chapter 30
Figure 30.1 Global population projections under different
scenarios of femal...
Figure 30.2 Microsoft Building Footprints paired with
Planet mosaics.
Figure 30.3 Building density modeling pipeline.
Figure 30.4 Piecewise smoothing of pixel-level building
density over time.
Figure 30.5 Local patterns of childhood wasting in low and
middle-income cou...
Figure 30.6 Building density estimates in Tindouf, Algeria.
Figure 30.7 Building density growth in the Maldives, 2018–
2023.
Figure 30.8 Population map in Nairobi, Kenya, 2020. This
image represents th...
Figure 30.9 Population data in Kenya combined with
climate data.
AI for Good

Applications in Sustainability,
Humanitarian Action, and Health

Edited by

Juan M. Lavista Ferres, PhD, MD, MBA

William B. Weeks, MD, PhD, MBA

Foreword
—Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft
In 2018, when we launched Microsoft's AI for Good Lab, our goal
was ambitious yet clear: to harness the transformative power of AI to
tackle global challenges and enhance lives worldwide. In just five
years, I've watched Juan and his team of researchers, subject matter
experts, and data scientists do just that as they formulate and
advance that mission into inspiring results. Every day, they bring a
sense of wonder and optimism to their work, solving our most
pressing problems and improving lives at scale across society.
This book begins with a useful primer on what AI is and how it's used
in a variety of applications, followed by a series of applied scientific
studies. It explores how AI helps today's leading experts take on
global challenges in health, human rights, and climate change. At
Microsoft, we talk about the many ways AI offers more potential for
the good of humanity than any invention that has preceded it. After
reading this book, I hope you'll share my optimism for the
possibilities of this powerful new technology.
An example of this collaboration is the lab's work on retinopathy of
prematurity (ROP), a condition in children who are born
prematurely. ROP occurs when premature birth disrupts the normal
eye development of blood vessels in the retina, often leading to injury
of the eye. As more premature babies survive, thanks to neonatal
care, the prevalence of ROP has increased. However, if detected
early, laser surgery can save a baby's vision. The challenge is that
there are not enough ophthalmologists trained to diagnose and treat
ROP, especially in the Global South, where the trend in premature
births is rising, but healthcare infrastructure is lagging.
By combining the expertise of ophthalmologists with AI, we've
developed an app that replaces expensive diagnostic machinery with
a smartphone camera powered by AI. This innovation enables
healthcare workers in remote areas to swiftly diagnose ROP,
increasing access to essential interventions. This simple app not only
improves access to important healthcare services, but also eases
pressure on a system overwhelmed by an increase in demand.
When disasters strike, AI can help save lives. In 2023, the world
faced fires, earthquakes, and flooding. The AI for Good Lab and its
partners used geospatial tools that combined satellite images with AI
models to map where buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
These tools put real-time, actionable data into the hands of rescue
teams, significantly enhancing their life-saving efforts.
When speed is critical, AI can aggregate, analyze, and share
information with local authorities, but it cannot substitute the work
of responders who are conducting rescue efforts on the ground. It's
this joint effort between technology and decision-makers that
reduces the time needed for making life-saving choices and boosts
their capacity to act quickly and efficiently.
As these examples show, AI can play a critical role in addressing
global challenges. They also reflect our dedication to ensuring that
technology's benefits are available to all.
AI's potential reminds me of electricity, another world-changing
invention from more than a century ago. In 1882, Thomas Edison's
Pearl Street Station generator lit up homes and businesses in New
York City. Yet today, more than 150 years later, access to reliable
electricity is still out of reach for more than 700 million people
around the world. We must avoid creating a similar gap with AI and
ensure that it is available to everyone, everywhere.
The responsibility now falls on us to guide AI's evolution responsibly.
I am grateful for the innovative, compassionate individuals at the
forefront of using AI for good.
Introduction
—William B. Weeks, MD, PhD, MBA
Writing is a lonely endeavor that, to be honest, is draining. Authors
put a lot of themselves into writing. Picking the right next word,
getting the phrasing correct, and accurately conveying the material
all take effort. To be sure, spell-check helps, as do grammatical
suggestions. However, writing about technical processes and
research findings requires a lot of second-guessing and ego
oversight. It is not enough just to get words on paper: someone
reading them might follow your suggestions, and if the words are
misleading or inaccurate, they could be more harmful than helpful.
There is an ethical imperative to get the work right, to revise and
check and confirm the work and the words so that they accurately
depict what you did as a researcher, what you found, and what the
limitations of your findings are.
Nonetheless, I love to write about and conduct research. Because of
its challenges, I find the research process and the conveyance thereof
to be highly intellectually stimulating and engaging. But more
importantly, good research, when shared, can improve the world.
After a 30-year career at Dartmouth Medical School as a professor,
teacher, and health services researcher who studied health systems
and how people used them, I joined Microsoft. I love working at
Microsoft and have had wonderful managers here—Dr. Jim
Weinstein during my time at Microsoft Research, and now Dr. Juan
M. Lavista Ferres, the co-editor of this book and the leader of the AI
for Good Lab, the work of which fills this book. But, further, I think
that Microsoft's top leadership—Satya Nadella and Brad Smith, who
fund the AI for Good Lab—seek to use their positions to do good in
the world.
In teaching classes on the financial and strategic management of
healthcare organizations at Dartmouth, I often contrasted the two
Latin phrases that express the ethics of business and medicine:
“caveat emptor” and “primum non nocere,” respectively. Caveat
emptor means “let the buyer beware.” If an organization produces
something and sells it and it does not work out for the customer, too
bad—the customer should have done due diligence and might even
have anticipated that the product was not going to be useful.
Medicine has an antithetical ethic: first do no harm. Healthcare
providers have a fiduciary responsibility to their patients: they have
an ethical obligation to share the risks and benefits of treatment
decisions and collaboratively work with patients to tailor care
pathways to achieve patients' goals in a way that is consistent with
their values.
With a mission “to empower every person and every organization on
the planet to do more,” Microsoft's ethic aligns more with the
medical one than the business one, which is why I like working there.
Much like that of a provider and a patient, Microsoft seeks to have
long-term and helpful relationships with its customers, ones in
which customers benefit from Microsoft products in ways that are
consistent with their goals and values.
Perhaps Microsoft's ethic of empowerment is most evident within
Microsoft's AI for Good Lab. Considered part of Microsoft's
philanthropic efforts, the Lab seeks to engage largely not-for-profit
organizations in one of two ways. First, by providing Azure Cloud
credits so those with data science expertise can use those credits to
begin work on a particular project without incurring cloud storage
and compute expenses. Second, by providing time-limited and
project-specific data science expertise to those organizations that
have data but do not have the advanced analytic skills to use the data
to improve the world. The Lab also engages in work that addresses
social problems that may not have a specific not-for-profit
collaborator, like rapidly assessing damage from natural disasters or
war, or providing tools that can help researchers and policymakers
identify where broadband access or health inequities exist in the
United States.
That work is presented in this book. By writing the book, we seek to
help readers who are interested in how artificial intelligence and
advanced data science techniques can be used to solve world
problems by providing examples of the Lab's efforts to do so. So, part
of the reason to write this book is to share knowledge with others
who are interested, might learn about the approaches that the Lab
has used, and, hopefully, apply those methods in a propagative way
to address more problems. The world is complex, and we need as
many thoughtful, curious, and motivated people who want to spend
time addressing its problems as possible. We hope this book reaches
them.
Moreover, I worry. As a physician, I worry about the world's health
and the massive inequities in care access, quality, and outcomes that
drive health disparities, within countries and across countries. As an
economist, I worry that, unless efficient and effective solutions to
some of the most pressing issues in the world (like climate change,
humanitarian action, and health equity) are addressed, incentives
that drive market behavior will worsen the plight of the
disenfranchised. As a father of six and grandfather of four, I worry
that the world I leave to my kids and theirs will be a worse one than
the one I inherited.
So, my primary reason for writing a book that demonstrates how
artificial intelligence and sophisticated data analytics can be used to
solve the world's most pressing problems is because I have hope that
these technologies can help, and hope assuages worry. The tools that
are described herein are not panaceas—just as with a medical
intervention, the choice of the tool, the approach, and the target
must be clearly described, cautiously applied, and carefully
interpreted.
But I am hopeful that these tools, when judiciously, rigorously, and
ethically applied, can empower the world's populations to live in
more just societies, avoid unnecessary harms that might otherwise
befall them, and live healthier, more fruitful, and more fulfilling
lives.

A Call to Action
—Juan M. Lavista Ferres, PhD, MD, MBA
Jeffrey Hammerbacher, one of the first data scientists at Facebook,
once said, “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how
to make people click ads.”
When I first came across Hammerbacher's quote, I was leading the
metrics team for Bing. Although I wasn't working directly on ads,
part of my job was to understand the trade-offs between ads and
relevance, so this statement resonated deeply with me.
To be clear, search engines like Bing and Google have immensely
enriched society by granting unparalleled access to information and
empowering individuals in novel ways. Yet, while recognizing these
contributions, the pressing challenges of our times necessitate
collective innovation, creative application of new tools and methods,
and solutions that attempt to solve those challenges and not just
provide information access.
The problems that we seek to address within the AI for Good Lab are
foundational to societal improvement. For example, each year,
millions of children die before they reach the age of five, with a
significant majority of these deaths being entirely preventable. The
climate crisis affects hundreds of millions of people, a staggering 1.6
billion people live with severe disabilities, and half of the world's
population has inadequate access to high-quality healthcare. The
world needs all the help it can get.
Over the past five years, I've had the opportunity to see the
remarkable ways in which artificial intelligence and technology can
address some of those challenges. While they aren't silver bullets,
artificial intelligence and technology can be instrumental in solving
specific issues. However, one challenge is that non-profit
organizations and governments, which are at the forefront of
addressing these problems, often do not have the capacity to attract
or retain the artificial intelligence experts that they need to solve
them.
Some might find it surprising, but even though predicting which
person will click on your ad and which child has a higher chance of
infant mortality are vastly different in societal terms, from a pure
data science standpoint, they are essentially the same problem. If we
can apply AI algorithms to optimize ad clicks, why can't we direct
some of our best minds and most advanced technologies toward
optimizing human life, well-being, and the health of our planet?
I am optimistic and strive to leave the world better than I found it—a
goal I believe is more widespread than commonly perceived. I'm
profoundly grateful to Microsoft for the chance to lead our AI for
Good Lab that embraces this very mission.
I'm not going to lie: demonstrating an impact in this complex world
is not easy. Over the years, my successes have taught me a lot, but my
failures have taught me even more about making a tangible impact.
And I've learned a few lessons.
I learned that there is a huge difference between solving a problem
on paper and solving one in a real-world setting. One profound
realization I had was that, as humans, we are addicted to complexity:
we like complex problems and complex projects. This is the reason
we sent a person to the moon before we added wheels to our luggage.
However, seeking complexity is the wrong approach. If we want to
try to impress people and look smart, our solutions will be complex.
But if we want to measurably improve the world, our solutions must
be simple. And building simple solutions is much harder.
I've learned that, when working on a problem, it is critical to
collaborate with subject matter experts. No matter how much we
data scientists think we understand a problem, it is crucial to work
with those who fundamentally understand the problems we seek to
address. Without insight from these experts, we might not
understand potential issues with the data, we might focus our efforts
on solutions that are not meaningful, are not pragmatic, or are
unlikely to be implemented.
There is a difference between applied and pure research. In applied
research, we focus on a problem and seek the best hammer to solve
it. In basic research, we aim to create a new hammer. While both are
essential for scientific advancement, one of my most significant
realizations is that there's an imbalance between the two: it's not that
the world needs fewer hammers, but it certainly needs more people
looking to solve real world problems.
Don’t try to make the problem fit your tools; get yourself the
tools that fit the problem.
—Toby Berger
Academia brims with brilliant individuals. But if the currencies of
academia—like publications, citations, or the h-index—are the sole
objectives of academic work, they might hinder genuine impact. I
strongly believe that, even if it is much harder to measure, the impact
that our work has on improving society is the right measure.
My career path differs significantly from that of many of my lab
colleagues and academic peers. I did not intend to spend a career in
research: with a background in computer science, I spent my early
years developing software solutions. But the combination of the two
disciplines, which occurred during my tenure at Microsoft, gave me
insight into the importance of combining the rigor of research with
the utility of creating simple, practical, implementable, and scalable
solutions.
In my position as the Director of Microsoft's philanthropic AI for
Good Lab, I have been able to recruit some of the brightest minds
I've ever experienced. I am profoundly grateful to them: they have
taught me nearly everything I know about artificial intelligence.
The intent of this book is different from the many texts that aim to
teach the fundamentals of artificial intelligence. By sharing real-
world examples of how artificial intelligence and advanced data
science methods can be applied for good, we seek to inspire the
reader to envision new possibilities for impactful change. We want
our work to engage readers by exploring pressing questions, igniting
a broader conversation about ethically redirecting our technological
capabilities for the greater good, and showing that it can be done.
The smartphones we carry in our pockets surpass the computing
power that once sent astronauts to the moon.
With artificial intelligence and data at our fingertips, we now have
the tools to address the world’s most pressing problems.
We no longer have excuses.
Part I
Primer on Artificial
Intelligence and Machine
Learning
We intend for this book to be available to a broad audience, in
particular, those without expertise in artificial intelligence or
machine learning.
To make the book more accessible to that audience, we have
purposely avoided including too many technical details of the
studies. We have avoided the use of mathematical formulae and
equations. Interested readers can find those in the references at the
end of each chapter.
Nonetheless, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools have
their own language and applications and limitations; studies
applying artificial intelligence and machine learning have common
processes, practices, and terms. Therefore, in the following chapters,
we provide a primer that defines artificial intelligence in lay terms,
describes the applications and limitations of artificial intelligence,
provides a brief glossary of commonly used practices and terms used
in the application of artificial intelligence, and presents an overview
of the structure that we applied to each of the chapters.
Those versed in artificial intelligence and machine learning should
feel free to skip this part and jump right into the meat of the studies
that we present (each of which is independent and not reliant on
knowledge in any of the other chapters). Those wanting an
introduction to or a light refresher on artificial intelligence, its
application, and its evaluation should probably read this part before
reading the studies.
Chapter 1
What Is Artificial Intelligence and
How Can It Be Used for Good?
—William B. Weeks
Defining artificial intelligence begs the question of how one defines
intelligence. It's a sticky and complex wicket because whole
philosophical arguments and schools hang on the definition of
intelligence. But, for the purposes of this book, we define intelligence
as the ability to learn.
Learning entails acquisition of knowledge and application of that
knowledge. Acquisition of knowledge without application is simply
data. As humans, we are constantly obtaining data; however, much
of the data that we obtain is filtered out. While our brains are
purportedly the most complex entities in the universe, were we not
able to filter out data, we would become overwhelmed by it. Imagine
driving or taking the subway to work, and capturing and cataloguing
every sight, smell, innuendo, look, and feeling that you experienced.
I would bet that most readers—if thinking back to their last commute
to work—would be hard-pressed to remember any details of it.
Perhaps if something out of the ordinary happened, that would stand
out. Or maybe if you heard your favorite song being sung by a busker
in the metro station, that might penetrate your natural filtering
system and persist for a while. But we filter out a lot, in large part to
maintain the efficiency of our brains.
As humans have evolved, we have increasingly moved from a
true/false, good/bad categorization mechanism for data inputs. Such
categorizations might have even become embedded in our thinking
process, possibly in an inefficient manner: most people shy away
from snakes, even though most snakes are not dangerous.
Nonetheless, because some snakes are dangerous, for efficiency, we
may categorize all snakes as dangerous. And it really doesn't do us
much harm, assuming that humans have very little or no use for
Another random document with
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 Romamti-ezer, his sons and his brethren,
twelve.
22. Jeremoth] Called Jerimoth, verse 4.

Chapter XXVI.
1‒12 (compare ix. 17‒27).
The Courses of the Doorkeepers.

¹For the courses of the doorkeepers: of the

Korahites; Meshelemiah ¹ the son of Kore, of
the sons of Asaph ². ²And Meshelemiah had
sons; Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the
second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth;
¹ In verse 14, Shelemiah. ² In chapter ix. 19, Ebiasaph.

1. Meshelemiah, etc.] For the names of the doorkeepers see

notes on ix. 17 ff.

of the sons of Asaph] For Asaph read Ebiasaph, as in ix. 19.

³Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth,

Eliehoenai the seventh.
3. Eliehoenai] The form differs from that in iii. 23, but has the
same meaning, viz., “Mine eyes are towards Jehovah.”
 ⁴And Obed-edom had sons; Shemaiah the
firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the
third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethanel the
fifth;
4. Obed-edom] For Obed-edom see xiii. 13, note.

⁵Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh,

Peullethai the eighth: for God blessed him.
⁶Also unto Shemaiah his son were sons born,
that ruled over the house of their father: for
they were mighty men of valour.
5. for God blessed him] “him” refers to “Obed-edom” (verse 4),
who was blessed with eight sons. It seems likely that the phrase
“God blessed him” is intended to be a reminiscence of xiii. 14 and
indicates that the Levitical Obed-edom was strangely identified by
tradition with Obed-edom the Gittite in whose house the Ark was
temporarily left by David (xiii. 13). For other references to Obed-
edom as one of the doorkeepers, see xv. 18, 24, xvi. 38. On the
other hand he is classed as a singer in xv. 21, xvi. 5, passages which
are probably additions to the original text of Chronicles, or at any
rate represent later or divergent tradition.

⁷The sons of Shemaiah; Othni, and Rephael,

and Obed, Elzabad, whose brethren were
valiant men, Elihu, and Semachiah. ⁸All these
were of the sons of Obed-edom: they and their
sons and their brethren, able men in strength
for the service; threescore and two of Obed-
edom.
 7. whose brethren] The pronoun refers to Elzabad.

⁹And Meshelemiah had sons and brethren,

valiant men, eighteen.
9. Meshelemiah] Compare verses 1‒3 to which verse 9 is a
supplement.

¹⁰Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had

sons; Shimri the chief, (for though he was not
the firstborn, yet his father made him chief;)
¹¹Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third,
Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brethren
of Hosah were thirteen.
10. Hosah] He is mentioned as a doorkeeper along with Obed-
edom in xvi. 38.

¹²Of these were the courses of the

doorkeepers, even of the chief men, having
charges ¹ like as their brethren, to minister in
the house of the Lord.
¹ Or, wards over against their brethren.

12. Of these ... even of the chief men] In verses 8, 9, 11 taken

together ninety-three doorkeepers are enumerated, who are
presumably the heads of the four thousand mentioned in xxiii. 5. In
ix. 22 again the total number (as it seems) of doorkeepers is given
as two hundred and twelve. The discrepancy may be due to the
Chronicler having used different documents belonging to different
dates: for other possibilities see note on ix. 22.
 13‒19 (compare ix. 23‒26).
The Stations of the Doorkeepers.

Remark how naïvely the Chronicler names various parts of the

Temple as if it had been already in existence at this time.

¹³And they cast lots, as well the small as the

great, according to their fathers’ houses, for
every gate. ¹⁴And the lot eastward fell to
Shelemiah ¹. Then for Zechariah his son, a
discreet counsellor, they cast lots; and his lot
came out northward. ¹⁵To Obed-edom
southward; and to his sons the storehouse.
¹ In verse 1, Meshelemiah.

14. Shelemiah] i.e. Meshelemiah, verses 1, 2.

¹⁶To Shuppim and Hosah westward, by the

gate of Shallecheth ¹, at the causeway that
goeth up, ward against ward. ¹⁷Eastward were
six Levites, northward four a day, southward
four a day, and for the storehouse two and
two.
¹ That is, Casting forth.

16. To Shuppim and Hosah] Read, To Hosah. The word

“Shuppim” should be omitted from the text. It is merely an accidental
repetition (in a corrupt form) of the last word in verse 15, namely
“Asuppim,” rendered storehouse.
 by the gate of Shallecheth] There is no other mention in the Bible
of a gate “Shallecheth,” but it is perhaps to be identified with “the
entering in of the house of the Lord ... which was in the precincts”
(“Parvārim” Hebrew) mentioned 2 Kings xxiii. 11; compare note on
verse 18. Possibly the text should be corrected and we should read,
following the LXX., “by the gate of the chamber.”

at the causeway that goeth up] “The causeway” led up to the

Temple either from Ophel (on the south) or from the Western City
(across the Tyropœon Valley). Traces of two causeways have been
discovered by excavation, viz., “Wilson’s Arch” (Bädeker, Palestine⁵,
p. 65) and “Robinson’s Arch” (Palestine⁵ p. 66). The second of these
arches probably marks the site of a causeway belonging to the
period of the Kings.

¹⁸For Parbar ¹ westward, four at the causeway,

and two at Parbar ¹. ¹⁹These were the courses
of the doorkeepers; of the sons of the
Korahites, and of the sons of Merari.
¹ Or, the Precinct.

18. Parbar] This word, apparently the same as parvarim, 2 Kings

xxiii. 11 (Revised Version “precincts”; compare margin here), seems
to denote some building built on the Temple area on the west side. It
may have been a colonnade. The word is Persian and means
“lighted [by the sun].”

20‒32.
Various Officers.

²⁰And of the Levites ¹, Ahijah was over the

treasuries of the house of God, and over the
treasuries of the dedicated ² things.
 ¹ According to the Septuagint, And the Levites their brethren
were over &c.

² Hebrew holy things.

20. And of the Levites, Ahijah was over] Read (with LXX.;
compare margin), And the Levites their brethren were over. The
confusion of readings is easy in Hebrew; compare ii. 25 for a similar
case.

the dedicated things] Compare verses 26‒28.

²¹The sons of Ladan ¹; the sons of the

Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of
the fathers’ houses belonging to Ladan the
Gershonite; Jehieli ².
¹ In chapter vi. 17, Libni. ² In chapter xxiii. 8, Jehiel.

21. Ladan] compare xxiii. 7; called Libni in vi. 17 [2, Hebrew].

Jehieli] Read Jehiel as in xxiii. 8, xxix. 8; and probably delete the

following “The sons of Jehieli,” compare xxiii. 8.

²²The sons of Jehieli; Zetham, and Joel his

brother, over the treasuries of the house of the
Lord.
22. Zetham, and Joel] These appear as brethren of Jehiel in xxiii.
8; but since families, not individuals, are spoken of, the discrepancy
is not important.
 ²³Of the Amramites, of the Izharites, of the
Hebronites, of the Uzzielites:
23. the Amramites, etc.] Compare xxiii. 12.

²⁴and Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of

Moses, was ruler over the treasuries.
24. Shebuel] rather Shubael, as in xxiv. 20; compare xxiii. 16.

²⁵And his brethren; of Eliezer came Rehabiah

his son, and Jeshaiah his son, and Joram his
son, and Zichri his son, and Shelomoth his
son.
25. of Eliezer came Rehabiah] Compare xxiii. 15‒17, xxiv. 21.

Shelomoth] (so Kethīb); Authorized Version Shelomith follows

Ḳerī; compare verse 28 (margin).

²⁶This Shelomoth and his brethren were over

all the treasuries of the dedicated things,
which David the king, and the heads of the
fathers’ houses, the captains over thousands
and hundreds, and the captains of the host,
had dedicated. ²⁷Out of the spoil ¹ won in
battles did they dedicate to repair the house of
the Lord. ²⁸And all that Samuel the seer, and
Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of
Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had
dedicated; whosoever had dedicated any
 thing, it was under the hand of Shelomoth ²,
and of his brethren.
¹ Hebrew Out of the battles and the spoil.

² Hebrew Shelomith.

26. David the king] Compare xviii. 11.

²⁹Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons

were for the outward business over Israel, for
officers and judges.
29. Izharites] Compare xxiii. 12.

the outward business] This business is here expressly defined as

work “for officers and judges,” as compared with the duties of
maintaining the worship of the Temple and the construction or repair
of the fabric (compare xxiii. 4; 2 Chronicles xix. 11; Nehemiah xi. 16).

³⁰Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his

brethren, men of valour, a thousand and
seven hundred, had the oversight of Israel
beyond Jordan westward; for all the business
of the Lord, and for the service of the king.
30. the Hebronites] Compare xxiii. 12.

had the oversight of Israel] How their duties were related to those
of Chenaniah and his sons (verse 29) is not made clear.

beyond Jordan westward] Compare Joshua xxii. 7, Revised

Version Western Palestine is meant.
 ³¹Of the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even
of the Hebronites, according to their
generations by fathers’ houses. In the fortieth
year of the reign of David they were sought
for, and there were found among them mighty
men of valour at Jazer of Gilead.
31. Jerijah] called Jeriah (Hebrew Jerijahu) in xxiii. 19.

at Jazer] compare vi. 81 (vi. 66, Hebrew); Numbers xxi. 32,

Revised Version The Eastern Hebronites were given office east of
Jordan; compare verse 32.

³²And his brethren, men of valour, were two

thousand and seven hundred, heads of
fathers’ houses, whom king David made
overseers over the Reubenites, and the
Gadites, and the half tribe of the Manassites,
for every matter pertaining to God, and for the
affairs of the king.
32. his brethren] i.e. the brethren of Jerijah. It is remarkable that
their number should be given as 2700 for the two and a half tribes,
whereas the overseers for the nine and a half tribes west of Jordan
are said to number only 1700. Curtis sees in this a hint of the
importance of Gilead in the Chronicler’s period (compare 1
Maccabees v. 45).
 Chapter XXVII.
The Organisation of the Military and
Civil Officials.
1‒15.
The divisions of the Army by Courses.

It is in keeping with the plan and spirit of the Chronicler that he

should not fail to ascribe to David, who for all his piety was
preeminently the warrior-king, the organisation on an immense scale
of the military and civil forces of the land. In monthly “courses” the
king is here said to be attended by officers and soldiers totalling
288,000 men! The enumeration of David’s “mighty men” in chapter
xi. 10 ff. is an utterly insufficient reason for supposing that the
present chapter cannot also come from the Chronicler. It is suitable
to his narrative, characteristic of his style, and, if further evidence be
needed, it may be found in the tone of the references to the civil and
military authorities in xxii. 17; xxiii. 2; xxviii. 1 ff., 21; xxix. 6 ff.

¹Now the children of Israel after their

number, to wit, the heads of fathers’ houses
and the captains of thousands and of
hundreds, and their officers that served the
king, in any matter of the courses which came
in and went out month by month throughout all
the months of the year, of every course were
twenty and four thousand.
 1. came in and went out] Came on duty and went off duty;
compare 2 Chronicles xxiii. 8.

²Over the first course for the first month was

Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel: and in his
course were twenty and four thousand.
2. Jashobeam] Compare xi. 11, note.

³He was of the children of Perez, the chief of

all the captains of the host for the first month.
3. Perez] For Perez, see ii. 4, 5.

⁴And over the course of the second month

was Dodai the Ahohite, and his course; and
Mikloth the ruler: and in his course were
twenty and four thousand.
4. Dodai the Ahohite] Read probably (compare xi. 12), “Eleazar
the son of Dodo, the Ahohite.”

and his course; and Mikloth the ruler] The words are corrupt and
are omitted in the LXX. The original text is quite uncertain. A
Benjamite called Mikloth is mentioned in viii. 32.

⁵The third captain of the host for the third

month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the
priest ¹, chief: and in his course were twenty
and four thousand.
¹ Or, chief minister See 2 Samuel viii. 18.
 5. Benaiah] Compare xi. 22 ff., xviii. 17.

Jehoiada the priest, chief] “chief” refers to Benaiah.

⁶This is that Benaiah, who was the mighty

man of the thirty, and over the thirty: and of his
course was Ammizabad his son.
6. the mighty man of the thirty, and over the thirty] Compare xi.
25.

⁷The fourth captain for the fourth month was

Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his
son after him: and in his course were twenty
and four thousand.
7. Asahel] compare xi. 26, note.

⁸The fifth captain for the fifth month was

Shamhuth the Izrahite: and in his course were
twenty and four thousand.
8. Shamhuth the Izrahite] Perhaps to be identified with
“Shammoth the Harorite” of xi. 27; see note there.

⁹The sixth captain for the sixth month was Ira

the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite: and in his
course were twenty and four thousand.
9. Ira] compare xi. 28.

¹⁰The seventh captain for the seventh month

was Helez the Pelonite, of the children of
 Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and
four thousand.
10. Helez the Pelonite] Compare xi. 27, note.

¹¹The eighth captain for the eighth month was

Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites: and
in his course were twenty and four thousand.
11. Sibbecai the Hushathite] Compare xi. 29, notes.

Zerahites] (also verse 13). Descendants of Zerah, son of Judah;

ii. 4.

¹²The ninth captain for the ninth month was

Abiezer the Anathothite, of the Benjamites:
and in his course were twenty and four
thousand.
12. Abiezer the Anathothite] Compare xi. 28.

¹³The tenth captain for the tenth month was

Maharai the Netophathite, of the Zerahites:
and in his course were twenty and four
thousand.
13. Maharai the Netophathite] Compare xi. 30.

¹⁴The eleventh captain for the eleventh month

was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the children of
Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and
four thousand.
 14. Benaiah the Pirathonite] Compare xi. 31.

¹⁵The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was

Heldai ¹ the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his
course were twenty and four thousand.
¹ In chapter xi. 30, Heled.

15. Heldai] Called Heled in xi. 30.

of Othniel] compare Judges i. 13, iii. 9. Thus Heldai was not of

pure Israelite descent, but belonged to the Kenizzites (Kenaz), a
younger branch of the Calebites, an independent tribe which settled
primarily in southern Judah and was later incorporated in the tribe of
Judah. Genealogically this fact was expressed by calling Caleb a
son of Hezron, the son of Judah. See the article Caleb in
Encyclopedia Britannica¹¹.

16‒24.
The Princes of the Tribes of Israel.

Six tribes which were accounted “sons” of Leah are given first,
then six “sons,” actual or legal, of Rachel; whilst Zadok as chief of
the priestly caste may be reckoned as standing in a category by
himself, representative of the nation as a whole. Gad and Asher are
omitted, for some reason not easy to discern, perhaps accidentally
or because the traditional number of “twelve” tribes was complete in
this list without them.

¹⁶Furthermore over the tribes of Israel: of

the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri
the ruler: of the Simeonites, Shephatiah the
son of Maacah: ¹⁷of Levi, Hashabiah the son
of Kemuel: of Aaron, Zadok:
 17. Hashabiah] Perhaps the person mentioned in xxvi. 30. The
name is common among Levites.

of Aaron, Zadok] compare xii. 27, 28.

¹⁸of Judah, Elihu ¹, one of the brethren of

David: of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael:
¹⁹of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah: of
Naphtali, Jeremoth the son of Azriel: ²⁰of the
children of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of
Azaziah: of the half tribe of Manasseh, Joel
the son of Pedaiah:
¹ In 1 Samuel xvi. 6, Eliab.

18. Elihu] Perhaps the “Eliab” of 1 Samuel xvi. 6; compare

margin.

²¹of the half tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo

the son of Zechariah: of Benjamin, Jaasiel the
son of Abner: ²²of Dan, Azarel the son of
Jeroham. These were the captains of the
tribes of Israel.
21. Gilead] “Gilead” is strictly speaking the name of the district
between the Jabbok and Moab, in which the tribes of Gad and
Reuben dwelt. Here it is used less precisely to include Bashan, the
district north-east of Jordan in which the half tribe of Manasseh lived:
compare ii. 22, note.

Iddo] Spelt quite differently in Hebrew from the name of the father
of the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah i. 1).
 Abner] 1 Samuel xiv. 50, 51.

²³But David took not the number of them from

twenty years old and under: because the
Lord had said he would increase Israel like to
the stars of heaven.
23. took not the number] In Numbers i. 3 ff. it is said that in the
census which God commanded Moses to take in the wilderness only
those above twenty years old were to be numbered, and a chief from
each tribe was appointed to assist Moses in the task of numeration.
The Chronicler in this section wishes to say that, though David erred
in taking the census unbidden by Jehovah, he at least conformed to
the principles of the Law in carrying out his project: those under 20
years of age were not counted, and the princes just enumerated may
be supposed to correspond to the chiefs who assisted Moses.

²⁴Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number,

but finished not; and there came wrath for this
upon Israel; neither was the number put into
the account in the chronicles of king David.
24. but finished not] Compare xxi. 6.

into the account in] A summary of the numbers of David’s census

is given in xxi. 5 and also (with divergences) in 2 Samuel xxiv. 9. The
Chronicler probably means in the present passage that the details of
the census were not entered in the official records.

the chronicles] Literally the acts of the days; compare

Introduction, § 5.

25‒31.
Various Officers of the King.
 Twelve different officers are named here who acted as stewards
of king David’s property.

²⁵And over the king’s treasuries was

Azmaveth the son of Adiel: and over the
treasuries in the fields, in the cities, and in the
villages, and in the castles, was Jonathan the
son of Uzziah: ²⁶and over them that did the
work of the field for tillage of the ground was
Ezri the son of Chelub:
25. castles] Literally towers; compare 2 Chronicles xxvi. 10, xxvii.
4.

²⁷and over the vineyards was Shimei the

Ramathite: and over the increase of the
vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the
Shiphmite:
27. the Ramathite] The well-known Ramah was in Benjamin, but
there was also a Ramah (or Ramoth) of the South (Joshua xix. 8; 1
Samuel xxx. 27) from which the epithet “Ramathite” might be
derived.

the Shiphmite] The adjective is probably derived from “Siphmoth”

(1 Samuel xxx. 28), the name of a place in the south of Judah. If so,
we should read either “Siphmite” here, or “Shiphmoth” in 1 Samuel.

²⁸and over the olive trees and the sycomore

trees that were in the lowland was Baal-hanan
the Gederite: and over the cellars of oil was
Joash:
 28. sycomore] The fig-mulberry, a tree having leaves like
mulberry-leaves, and bearing a fruit resembling figs. Compare 2
Chronicles i. 15; Amos, vii. 14.

in the lowland] Hebrew Shephelah. See note on 2 Chronicles i.

15 (“vale”).

Gederite] i.e. inhabitant of “Geder” (Joshua xii. 13), perhaps

another form of “Gederah” (Joshua xv. 36). A place in the south of
Judah is intended in any case. See note on xii. 4.

²⁹and over the herds that fed in Sharon was

Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that
were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of
Adlai:
29. Sharon] The great maritime plain bounded on the east by the
“lowland” (Shephelah). “The valleys” would probably be the
depressions among the hills of the Shephelah which open out into
Sharon; compare Canticles ii. 1.

³⁰and over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite:

and over the asses was Jehdeiah the
Meronothite:
30. Obil] The name is a form of the Arabic word ābil, “one who
feeds camels.”

the Meronothite] Meronoth was perhaps near Gibeon and

Mizpah; compare Nehemiah iii. 7.

³¹and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite. All

these were the rulers of the substance which
was king David’s.
 31. Hagrite] Compare v. 10.

32‒34 (compare xviii. 15‒17 = 2 Samuel viii. 16‒18; compare 2

Samuel xx. 23‒26).
David’s Officers at Court.

³²Also Jonathan David’s uncle ¹ was a

counsellor, a man of understanding, and a
scribe: and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was
with the king’s sons:
¹ Or, brother’s son.

32. Jonathan David’s uncle] The name Jonathan is common in

Hebrew, but no uncle of David is elsewhere mentioned. A “Jonathan,
son of Shimea,” David’s brother, is referred to in xx. 7 (= 2 Samuel
xxi. 21), and many scholars in consequence prefer to follow the
margin and render Jonathan, David’s brother’s son. Curtis renders
David’s lover, taking the reference to be to Jonathan, Saul’s son,
who as the friend of David’s youth might be spoken of as his first
“counsellor.” This view seems improbable but is not impossible,
despite the phrase “and a scribe” which could not possibly be said of
Saul’s warrior son. There is some evidence that those words are a
gloss, and it is true that the list is not one of living men only
(compare Ahithophel), whilst finally the Chronicler might well be
tempted to drag in an allusion to a relationship so well-known and so
creditable to David.

a scribe] Not the chief scribe; compare xviii. 16, note.

with the king’s sons] As tutor; compare 2 Kings x. 6.

³³and Ahithophel was the king’s counsellor:

and Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend:
 33. Ahithophel] See 2 Samuel xv. 31; xvi. 20‒xvii. 23.

Hushai] See 2 Samuel xv. 32‒37, xvi. 16‒19, xvii. 5‒16.

Archite] The “border of the Archites” was near Bethel (Joshua xvi.
2). The word has no connection with the “Arkite” of i. 15.

king’s friend] compare 2 Samuel xvi. 16. “Special titles served to

signify the degree of rank the great men held with respect to the king
[of Egypt]. In old times the most important were the friend and the
well-beloved friend of the king” (Erman, Ancient Egypt, English
translation p. 72). The Greek kings of Syria granted similar titles to
their chief dependents; compare 1 Maccabees ii. 18 (Revised
Version with margin), “thou and thy house shall be in the number of
the king’s Friends.”

³⁴and after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son

of Benaiah, and Abiathar: and the captain of
the king’s host was Joab.
34. after Ahithophel] Compare verse 33.

Jehoiada the son of Benaiah] Either we must read, “Benaiah the

son of Jehoiada” (compare xviii. 17), or we must assume that a
person known only from this passage is meant.

and Abiathar] Possibly such a phrase as “And Zadok and

Abiathar were priests” (compare 2 Samuel xx. 25) originally stood
here.

Chapters XXVIII, XXIX.

David’s farewell Speech.