The UPU’s first-ever AI agent analyzing data on postal network development is being tested and showcased at the UPU’s 28th Universal Postal Congress in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Developed with seed funding provided by Japan and resulting from the UPU’s series of Innovation Challenges, the pilot AI agent operates on the UPU’s Unified Data Platform combining all relevant UPU big data and other data sources to analyze postal development.This enables informed advice on policy, regulatory and operational changes to improve postal reach, relevance, reliability and resilience at the country-level. It can also be used to test-drive potential solutions.
UPU Economist José Anson explains that through the project, UPU is helping to build momentum to leverage the postal network’s wealth of data to improve customer service and maintain the post’s role as a trusted public services provider.
“If you don’t develop ecosystem of AI agents, you cannot preserve your competitive advantage as a postal logistics company, you are going to lag well behind your customers’ expectations and you are going to risk losing relevance,” he says.
“These agents are going to revolutionize the customer experience. At the end of the day, the postal business is all about the customer experience,” he adds.
The UPU is working on enriching data sources available to the AI agent, targeting data-sharing between not only the traditional postal stakeholders – postal operators, regulators and governments – but also partners such as UPU Consultative Committee members and organizations collecting data on trade and aviation.
“This would give us the possibility to build an ecosystem of AI agents providing analysis on various aspects across the supply chain, from customs clearance to last-mile delivery,” he says. “Nobody can create this kind of solution alone – we need partners.”
Data security
As a neutral third-party, the UPU is in the prime position to become the steward of a secure, ethical collective intelligence ecosystem for the postal sector.
The UPU’s Unified Data Platform and its AI agent will run on the UPU’s trusted, secure .POST top-level domain, applying a rigorous data governance framework. The platform offers the maximum granularity of rights and permissions, meaning countries have full control over whether and how their data is shared across the network.
While the tool is in its pilot phase, Anson explains that the UPU hopes to test with member countries attending the Congress this week to see how it might be evolved and to source resources for its expansion.
The UPU is presenting the solution on the UPU stand each day from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. GST until 16 September. Congress participants are welcome to stop by the stand at any time for an individual demo.