Shipping has become one of the areas of use of artificial intelligence, where advanced technology has become a valuable tool.

The media reported that companies such as Maersk, Siemens, and Unilever are using machine intelligence in the search for new supplies. They also apply AI to finalize contacts and to prevent interaction with those firms that are involved in human rights violations and harm the environment as part of their activities.

The media claim that new supply chain laws in countries such as Germany impose obligations on companies to monitor the supply chain aspect of the impact on the state of the climate and on the observance of human rights. Against this background, there was an interest in growth in artificial intelligence and investment in the relevant industry.

Navneet Kapoor, technical director of Maersk, said that over the past year, workflows have changed dramatically due to the emergence of generative AI, which is able to give dialog responses to people’s queries. In December, the company invested $20 million in Pactum, a San Francisco-based firm that claims that a chatbot it created, much like ChatGPT, was able to sign contracts with suppliers for Maersk, Walmart, and the Wesco distribution group.

Kaspar Korjus, co-founder of Pactum, says that in times of emergency, for example, a pandemic or a war, interaction with suppliers is of particular value in the business sphere. According to him, currently, one disruption in the supply chain follows another. He noted that this problem takes up too much time from people. Separately, the co-founder of the firm stressed that Walmart does not have enough time to contact tens of thousands of suppliers.

Interest in artificial intelligence occurs during the search by shipping and logistics companies for more thoughtful ways of working.

Zvi Schreiber, CEO of trade tech solution Freightos, told reporters this spring that the international freight transportation market, which is largely an autonomous endeavor, has lost tens of billions of dollars. He says that the so-called offline nature of global transportation, which is characterized by a high level of mediation, has become the root cause of problems in supply chains that have been observed over the past few years.

According to experts, currently industrial sectors that traditionally work manually are beginning to realize the advantages of machine intelligence and the need to integrate it into their business structure. For example, such important business operations as pricing are dependent on technical processes and tools that are becoming digital and more efficient.

A new generation of business solutions that integrate artificial intelligence into existing data streams is gradually appearing on the market, which significantly increases the efficiency and effectiveness of operational processes.

Shipping is currently experiencing not the most favorable period in its history, as a decrease in global demand for container shipping is recorded, demonstrating a tendency to continue in the short term. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc says that customers are reducing inventory, and there is no indication that the concept of their actions will change in the near future.

As we have reported earlier, Futurist Says About Exaggerated Fears of Humanlike AI.