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Artificial intelligence is a tool used by people all over the world to empower humans to make informed decisions. With a responsible use of AI, humans are able to solve problems faster because artificial intelligence can process more information at a time than a human can.

As climate change, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility become of increased importance for brands across the globe, business, and communications professionals should keep an eye on how emerging technologies, like AI, are being used to solve real-world problems.

Some of the problems AI is solving today are right out of science fiction movies. Waste recognition, space junk, and sustainability are a few of the challenges that artificial intelligence is helping humanity tackle.

Many dystopian movies depict Earth covered in garbage. People live in slums surrounded by trash without anywhere else for it to go. Thankfully, with the help of companies like Greyparrot, that dystopian predicament doesnt have to be humanitys future. Greyparrot is an artificial intelligence company devoted to using AI-powered computer vision software to increase transparency and automation in recycling.

As consumers become more concerned about product sustainability, plus increasing government regulations, companies are finding new ways to create a circular economy. The circular economy is a framework for an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design. Its a process of designing waste out of an economic system so that a product has a continued life, even after its main use. This is key for the waste and recycling industry which has low economic rates of 14% globally because 60% of the solid waste produced each year ends up in open dumps and landfill[s].

Greyparrot AI helps companies work in a circular economy by highlighting inefficiencies in sorting and waste facilities. The artificial intelligence vision can spot items on a conveyer belt faster and with better accuracy than a human. Their system automatically identifies different types of waste, providing composition information and analytics to help facilities increase recycling rates. AI is easy to scale and provides real-time insight and analysis into facilities. AI can turn the 1% of waste that is monitored and analyzed into 100%. Not to mention the opportunities to partner with smart bins and sorting robots. Greyparrot AI does more than bring waste management into the 21st century, it opens the door to AI applications to less well-known sectors of the economy, making our future circular instead of dystopian.The startup was recently named by The Europas Tech Startup Awardsas the hottest startup in Climate Tech/Green Tech startup of 2020.

Other scifi movies often depict humans escaping Earth when it is no longer inhabitable. They blast off into orbit while leaving robots like Wall-E to clean up the mess. But what if we cant launch into the final frontier because theres too much junk in the way for humans to leave Earths orbit? Space junk is a serious worry for many scientists. According to the European Space Agency, 129 million pieces of debris hurtle around Earth. Space debris poses a danger to astronauts navigating orbit, the network of communication and weather satellites, and future space missions.

Thats where AI and technology companies are coming together to tackle spaces biggest problem. NASA created the Deep Asteroid challenge, inviting participants to use machine learning to help humans avoid the same fate as the dinosaurs. Asteroids arent the only Near Earth Object that can come in contact with Earth. There are approximately 1000 comets and space debris which pose a real danger to life on Earth.

Detecting space junk is one thing but removing it from orbit is another. The startup StartRocket has a plan to remove debris using foam. StartRocket wants to deploy a satellite called Foam Debris Catcher. When the satellite reaches a debris cloud, it would splay out a web of space-grade polymeric foam arms which, according to StartRocket, can capture as much as a ton of space junk. The orbital drag of the foamed junk would pull the mass towards Earth, burning up in the atmosphere.

Artificial intelligence is more than a good samaritan. It offers a big ROI for companies who use it. In the food industry, AI could help generate up to $127 billion a year by 2030. Food waste is a problem before it even hits consumers refrigerators. About one third (about 1.3 billion tons) of food is lost or wasted each year from farm to refrigerator.

One company, Winnow Solutions, uses artificial intelligence to identify and weigh food waste in commercial kitchens. Winnow Vision, the companys AI, automatically assigns a dollar value to each scrapped plate thats dumped into its smart waste bin. Winnow Vision can identify waste foods correctly more than 80 percent of the time and is improving as it learns, which is up to 10% more accurate than kitchen staff (who are usually busy with other work).

A worker throws away expired food in a local supermarket in Brussels.

AI isnt just for the kitchen. Israeli startup, Wasteless, developed a dynamic pricing algorithm for perishable products. Wasteless is able to track an items price in real-time and adjust it based on the expiration date. Wasteless integrates with a stores inventory management system to automatically discount items with shorter shelf lives. By using Wasteless, a store retailer reduced food waste by 39 percent while boosting revenues by 110 percent and still maintaining a positive net margin.

The bad news is that water is a finite resource, but happily, it also happens to be renewable. Unfortunately, more than 25% of water is wasted due to leaks - and thats in commercial buildings alone. Water intelligence company, WINT, developed an AI to detect and stop leaks at the source. WINT does this by using pattern matching to detect water leaks. WINTs AI continually learns and adapts to a companys water network to optimize leak and waste detection. That 25% of water wasted due to leaks? Not for companies who use artificial intelligence. One company reported that WINT reduced its water consumption by 24%. Thats a technology thats good for the budget and the environment.

Artificial Intelligence can analyze, predict, and recommend action. However, its up to people to make the final call and change the systems in place to make the most out of the way we produce. Space junk, food waste, trash, and water leaks are all ways to rethink an industrys purpose. Economics can evolve along with technology, like artificial intelligence, to create sustainable solutions that at times can increase ROI, but can also show a brands goodwill and help that company find its purpose.

The rest is here:

How 4 Companies Are Using AI To Solve Waste Issues On Earth & In Space - Forbes