The Biden administration and some of the largest waste companies are betting on artificial intelligence to boost notoriously low recycling rates.
The real power of AI to do so lies in the data sets the technology can glean from recycling facilities.
“In a technological world, who controls the data has the power … this will be no different,” said Suzanne Jones, executive director of the nonprofit Eco-Cycle.
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Besides the decreased labor costs and increased materials capture of AI, the technology’s vision recognition systems are being used to create valuable and extensive — yet mostly private — data sets on which materials are entering recycling facilities.
