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Awesome, not awesome.

#Awesome
"A neural network trained on a dataset of images can identify recyclable objects with more than 95 per cent accuracy using a standard webcam.

Recyclable objects ending up in landfill is a major issue for the planet. Nine out of 10 plastic objects don’t end up being recycled, according to one analysis. Part of the issue is human uncertainty about what items can be recycled." - Chris Stokel-Walker, Journalist Learn More from NewScientist >

#Not Awesome
"Toyota Motor said on Friday it had suspended all self-driving e-Palette transportation pods at the Tokyo Paralympic Games village, a day after one of the vehicles collided with and injured a visually impaired pedestrian.

Toyota said the accident showed the difficulty for the self-driving vehicle to operate in the special circumstances of the village during the Paralympics with people there who are visually impaired or have other disabilities." - Sanjana Shivdas and Tim Kelly, Reporters Learn More from Reuters >

What we're reading.

1/ Researchers are using machine learning models to better predict terrorist attacks. Learn More from Analytics Insight >

2/ Artificial intelligence is able to predict Arctic sea ice loss months into the future. The model is almost 95% accurate at predicting whether sea ice will still be there two months out. Learn More from Phys.org >

3/ AI is able to spot new craters on Mars in as little as 5 seconds, a task that takes a trained scientist 40 minutes. Learn More from BIG THINK >

4/ Federal agencies are planning to increase their use of facial recognition in the coming years. Of the 24 agencies surveyed, at least 10 responded with these controversial plans. Learn More from The Hill >

5/ A recent study shows that a majority of AI experts fear that the technology will be used unethically in the way of greed and profits. Are there ways to make the use of AI more ethical? Learn More from VentureBeat >

6/ Indian Railways has deployed a network of 500 facial recognition cameras to track millions of daily commuters. Learn More from Financial Times >

7/ Zendesk has acquired AI startup Cleverly. The new pair hopes to provide customer service AI tools to businesses from the start, without the need for a full data science team. Learn More from TechCrunch >

If you’re interested in following along in realtime, seeing the articles we read throughout the week, and chatting about the implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning…join our slack community! (we'll be chatting in the #automation channel. Come say hi!) 🤖

29/08/21 View this email in your browser