This contribution gives an overview of an ongoing project using machine learning and computer vision components for improving the electronic waste recycling process. In circular economy, the "virtual mines" concept refers to production cycles where interesting raw materials are reclaimed in an efficient and cost-effective manner from end-of-life items. In particular, the growth of e-waste, due to the increasingly shorter life cycle of hi-tech goods, is a global problem. In this paper, we describe a pipeline based on deep learning model to recycle printed circuit boards at the component level. A pre-trained YOLOv5 model is used to analyze the results of the locally developed dataset. With a different distribution of class instances, YOLOv5 managed to achieve satisfactory precision and recall, with the ability to optimize with large component instances.

The European Commission will this week present its proposal on Artificial Intelligence (AI), seen as a step toward a new regulatory framework, promised by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union, writes Marie-Françoise Gondard-Argenti. Marie-Françoise Gondard-Argenti is a member of the Employers' Group at the European Economic and Social Committee. It is clear that there is no country or company manager in Europe at the moment that does not support the development of a trustworthy and innovative AI ecosystem, which promotes a human-centric approach and that primarily services people, increasing their well-being. There is no company in Europe that does not understand the need to leverage the EU market to spread the EU's approach to AI regulation globally. However, at the moment, the EU lags behind.

A delegation of members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) visited three Finnish technological hubs to assess the potential benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence for our society. They stressed that all future developments must encompass three pillars: product safety, consumer trust, and solidarity in health and social care. Artificial intelligence applications can increase people's wellbeing, but the potential risks need to be taken seriously. The products that are emerging as a result of new technologies and the digital revolution are in general extremely helpful and can have a wide range of uses in all areas of our lives, from dispensing medicines to curing loneliness. However, they need to be handled with care, as they are not always as straightforward as they may seem.