Job numbers reflect that America is slowly getting back to work and point to a looming crisis in our nation’s colleges and universities…and Artificial Intelligence comes to the farm.

This week’s job numbers offered a good news/bad news scenario. The good news: For the first time since the Coronavirus struck in March, unemployment claims fell below 1 million. More people are returning to work, and the labor market seems to be taking some ground.

The bad news: There are fewer opportunities in some of the largest economic sectors where job losses were heaviest. The hospitality and retail industries are forever changed because the behavior patterns of Americans have been altered – perhaps permanently. With the rise of remote work and a pervasive fear of large indoor gatherings, the world of work itself is undergoing a radical transformation.

Have you heard the words “Artificial Intelligence” and wondered what they meant? The term itself was originally conceived by IMB when computer engineers first developed algorithms to electronically analyze and predict what numbers indicated for any business.

The way most people understand Artificial Intelligence or AI is by thinking of it as man versus machine. Others like Elon Musk see it as a sort of augmentation that opens new possibilities and horizons for the future. Either way, processes and tasks once performed by human beings are now more quickly done by computers. During the COVID crisis, AI startups are in vogue because businesses are looking for ways to save money, and AI not only helps optimize cost savings it is also helping solve complex problems.

Blue River Technology has developed an AI system chip that recognizes and sprays herbicide that kills damaging weeds in crops, but does not harm the lettuce or cotton growing next to them. These processing chips have been purchased by companies such as John Deere who will use AI to kill damaging weeds in crops across the nation.