Four billion people lack an address. Machine learning could change that.

An estimated 4 billion people in the world lack a physical address. Without one, residents lose access to important services like package deliveries, medical care, and disaster relief, as well as the ability to register to vote or obtain a driver's license. Cities also have trouble planning new infrastructure, such as schools, water pipes, and electricity lines. "As you move into a more global economy and more people order and get goods delivered at a distance, you need a more specific address than'the house with the red door across from the cathedral,'" says Merry Law, the president of a company that provides international addressing information. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab and Facebook are now proposing a new way to address the unaddressed: with machine learning.