Artificial Intelligence Comes to — Wait for It — the Post Office

When you think of innovative organizations, the U.S. Postal Service is probably not at the top of your list. In fact, the post office has sort of become a metaphor for an old, inefficient way of doing things — think of the term “snail mail.” Do people even buy stamps anymore? And when was the last time you, dear reader, stepped foot in a post office? 

Well, many people still do. The postal service delivers about 146 billion pieces of mail per year. And now they’ll be using artificial intelligence to help keep track of all those parcels. USPS will begin using AI tech from Nvidia to help it track packages. The system is expected to be up and running by 2020. 

It may be the brunt of jokes related to its antiquated nature, but kudos to the postal service for investing in innovation.