LO
CapabilityCognitive automation2025-01-01
Hard-bargaining AI negotiators win bigger discounts, but suppliers trust collaborative ones more and want to deal with them again, experiments in procurement negotiation found
Procurement / supply chain specialistoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2025-01-01 · reported 2025-10-01
Evidence stage
CapabilityA demo, benchmark or paper shows the task can be done. Updates what the technology can do — not what employers will do.
Tasks this bears on
Negotiating with someone who will remember
Agreeing a price with a supplier you will need again next quarter, and in a bad quarter.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
A peer-reviewed experimental study in which people playing suppliers negotiated with generative-AI chatbots prompted either competitively or collaboratively. It reports that a competitively prompted chatbot achieves a higher price discount, better payment terms and a quicker negotiation, while suppliers trust a collaboratively prompted chatbot more and show higher outcome satisfaction and a stronger desire for future interaction. It is a controlled experiment, not a deployment, and participants were not in real long-term supplier relationships.
What this means
The trade-off at the heart of this task shows up even with a machine across the table: squeezing wins this deal and costs the next one. Deciding which to spend is the judgement the buyer keeps.
What it does not yet show
An experiment with simulated suppliers; it does not show how real long-term relationships respond, or how widely such tools are used.
What you can check
Open the Maastricht University record for Brave new procurement deals and find "stronger desire for future interaction".
Does it change the assessment?
No — and this stage does not move it either. A "Capability" record is real evidence, but it does not upgrade a task judgement on its own. The 1 linked judgement above stand where they were.
Source
Herold et al., Brave new procurement deals: an experimental study of how generative artificial intelligence reshapes buyer–supplier negotiations, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 31(4), 101012 (early online 1 Jan 2025; published Oct 2025) — Maastricht University research portal · verified 2026-09-29 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-09-29 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.