Research shows 37% of organisations are already piloting or using AI in procurement, supplier risk and sustainability, but only 2% have fully integrated it
HIGHLIGHTS
• AI is entering the procurement mainstream: 37% of organisations are already piloting or using it in supplier risk and sustainability management.
• However, only 2% have fully integrated AI, exposing a wide gap between experimentation and mature deployment.
• Optimism outweighs caution: 45% view AI in procurement positively, against just 7% who see it negatively.
• Adoption is practical, centred on process automation, virtual assistants and supplier risk management.
• Poor data, skills shortages and legacy systems are the biggest brakes on wider deployment.
• Supplier data quality will decide who scales AI successfully across complex supply chains.
• Increased AI adoption can support supplier risk management, but it does not replace robust supplier data, or human judgement and established due diligence processes.
Abingdon, UK – 27 July 2026 – Achilles, a global leader in supply chain risk and performance management, has released new sector-specific data highlighting increasing AI adoption in supplier risk management.
The findings form part of Achilles’ latest supply chain risk and sustainability survey, which gathered responses from 2,805 organisations across Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Middle East, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. According to the data, organisations are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to strengthen procurement, supplier risk and sustainability management, but most remain in the early stages of adoption.
Among organisations that answered questions on AI adoption, 37% are already piloting, operationalising or widely deploying AI in procurement, supplier risk or sustainability. Just 2%, however, report that AI is widely deployed or fully integrated across their organisation, a stark gap between early experimentation and mature implementation.
These findings indicate that AI is moving from theory into practical application, with organisations looking to the technology to improve efficiency, reduce manual work and sharpen decision-making. However, adoption remains uneven as many organisations are still working through the data, skills and systems challenges that effective deployment demands. For many organisations, the quality of underlying supplier and sustainability data remains the key determinant of whether AI delivers meaningful risk insights.
Sentiment is broadly positive, with 45% of organisations holding a favourable overall view of AI in procurement, against just 7% who view it negatively. This optimism demonstrates that companies see clear potential for AI to support procurement transformation, supplier risk management and sustainability performance, even where full integration remains some way off.
Adoption also varies sharply by sector. Among sectors with at least 25 respondents, Information Technology led on active adoption at 62%, some 24 percentage-points above the all-sector average of 37%, followed by Marine Transport at 56%. Ground Transport recorded the lowest rate among larger sectors at 26%, leaving a 36 percentage-point gap behind the leaders.
The most common AI use cases are practical and operational, such as process automation, virtual assistants and chatbots, and supplier management and risk mitigation. The benefits organisations report most often are similarly focused on operational improvements, led by greater process efficiency, freeing employees from repetitive work, and better decisions drawn from data.
The barriers to adoption are as much about readiness as technology. Organisations point to a shortage of internal skills and data science capability, integration difficulties with legacy systems and ERP platforms, poor or unclean data, and AI not yet being treated as a strategic priority.
However, increased AI adoption does not replace the core disciplines of supplier risk management. While the uptake of AI software has accelerated, its effectiveness still depends on reliable data collection, supplier validation, and continuous monitoring. AI can help analyse large volumes of information and flag potential issues, but it cannot compensate for incomplete or inaccurate data, or remove the need for human expertise to interpret findings and investigate emerging risk.
Commenting on the findings, Adam Whitfield, Head of Global Compliance and ESG at Achilles, said:
“AI is no longer a talking point in procurement; it is being put to work. With more than a third of organisations surveyed already piloting or using AI in supplier risk and sustainability, the question has shifted from whether to adopt, to how to do it well.
“The harder truth in the data is that full deployment is still rare. AI delivers value in supplier risk management only when it sits on trusted data, clear governance and the ability to fit into existing procurement processes. If the foundations are wrong, AI simply scales the problem.
“AI can help organisations spot risk faster, strip out manual effort and see further into complex supply chains, but it does not replace robust supplier data or human judgement. The organisations that gain the most will be those that pair AI with strong supplier validation, reliable sustainability data and continuous monitoring, to allow for a more holistic understanding of supply chain networks.”
The findings come as organisations face mounting pressure to improve supply chain visibility, strengthen supplier resilience and meet increasingly complex sustainability and non-financial reporting requirements. Achilles’ wider research indicates that only 6% of organisations have full visibility beyond their Tier 1 suppliers, underlining how far many still have to go to understand risk more broadly in their supply chains.
As teams look to scale AI, the reliability of supplier data will be decisive. Applied to incomplete or inconsistent information, AI risks amplifying existing blind spots rather than closing them, limiting its value in supplier risk management and sustainability performance.
Achilles helps organisations across complex, highly regulated sectors collect, validate and manage supplier data, supporting greater visibility, stronger risk management and more resilient supply chains.
ENDS
Further Information: Hayley van Leeuwen Chief Marketing Officer, Achilles Hayley.vanleeuwen@achilles.com
BlytheRay
Public Relations Said.izagaren@blytheray.com James.mulligan@blytheray.com
