BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW: The USPS is getting seriously into Artificial Intelligence (AI) to upgrade its services and, hopefully, improve its bottom line. Today at Issues & Insights, Ross Marchand reports:

“Over the past few years, the USPS has been busily building AI-powered solutions to keep the consumer experience as smooth and efficient as possible. In 2021, ZDNet senior writer Stephanie Condon reported, ‘[w]ith a new, Nvidia-powered AI program, the USPS has built a way to dramatically reduce the time it takes to find lost packages, down from several days to just two hours.’

“Additionally, the USPS has experimented with using AI to help consumers troubleshoot through their many issues with the agency. A website chatbot launched in 2017 gave consumers a status update on their packages along with a customized greeting.”

It has been far from smooth-going as the USPS put its toes in the AI waters, but there are encouraging signs of progress. Even so, Marchand also warns that the USPS could easily become a threat to civil liberties, much as has the FBI. Therein lies a huge, but mostly overlooked, challenge for the incoming Republican House majority.

“It’s up to the new Congress to insist that any new AI technologies advance the USPS’ mission and aren’t redirected toward nefarious purposes. As a helpful first step, lawmakers can ensure that the inspector general’s office is adequately funded and equipped to investigate any agency abuses,” Marchand writes.

“Postal leadership and Congress must also work together to overhaul the USPS’ parcel pricing system and include AI-related costs in any pricing methodology. AI applications appear to overwhelmingly focus on package deliveries, and development and cybersecurity costs must be factored into parcel prices.”