The Intellect Lab company has built an AI-based procurement service robotic device able to compare agreements and supporting documentation. However, the robot cannot yet spot a fake seal.
This is not the first such project implemented in the field: earlier, the Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom created its procurement robot, while the FactoryFinder company developed an online platform that allows automating the procurement process.
Intellect Lab presented its robotic device on August 22 during a business lunch, AI and Company Operations, in Moscow. The event participants noted that such AI-based procurement developments are relevant primarily due to the sector’s excessive bureaucratization. Intellect Lab CEO Anton Berentsev emphasized that it is not often possible for personnel to handle all procurement documentation in time due to its substantial volume.
“This occurs not least because procurement processes in Russia are becoming more labor-intensive, with new regulations constantly introduced and staff members having to work with greater volumes of data,” Anton Berentsev noted.
According to him, using AI technology will allow processing 100% of requests and will secure greater accuracy than a human. The company’s robot is able to compare agreements’ originals with their copies received by email; the former may contain differences that an e-document does not have. The robot will compare two documents; one of them can be imported into the device as an image.
“Our robot is sort of a paranoid: it will underline the error once again rather than omit it,” Anton Berentsev said.
The device can also check the document particulars and search for signatures and seals. In case the bulk of documents does not have seals, a staff member can decide whether they should be processed. Meanwhile, the robotic device is not yet capable of distinguishing fake signatures or seals from real ones, Intellect Lab officials said.