UPS Leverages AI to Enhance Global Logistics
For more than three years, UPS has strategically deployed AI to transform global logistics. The company is detailing AI-powered solutions that combine the expertise of its approximately 460,000 employees with technology to shape the future of UPS. These initiatives advance a companywide priority: simplification. UPS is scaling AI, automation and advanced analytics to improve end-to-end visibility and the overall customer experience; make its global logistics network faster, more predictable and resilient; and ignite innovation. Each year, UPS customers ship packages that generate billions of tracking numbers. With market volatility driving supply chain complexity, customers increasingly demand visibility that goes far beyond an anticipated delivery date. UPS is applying AI to power industry-leading end-to-end visibility and control - and to improve customer support. Specifically, the company is: Redefining tracking to support more than 98% of customer service requests by the end of 2026, using AI and human expertise across digital and voice channels - including AI-enabled intelligent assistants in more than 20 countries. Equipping customer care teams with AI-powered, real-time shipment insights to resolve inquiries and claims faster. Transforming reverse logistics through Happy Returns, using a conversational, AI-powered experience to simplify the post-purchase journey and reduce returns fraud. Combining RFID and AI-powered tracking to deliver near real-time, package-level visibility - giving customers greater transparency, flexibility and enabling faster, smarter decisions. Further, UPS is delivering AI solutions to better serve customers around the globe including: Scaling proprietary network planning tools that model "what if" scenarios using real-time inputs - weather, transportation delays, volume forecasts - to stress-test operations and generate execution-ready plans before disruptions impact service. Expanding a real-time digital twin of the global network to include all modes of transportation, creating a digital replica of facilities, air and ground networks, and end-to-end package flows that updates every 10 minutes - continuously tracking performance so the network can adjust and self-heal in real time. Deploying agentic "control tower" capabilities on-site with customers, combining data, predictive models and connected services to go beyond shipment tracking - flagging, prioritizing and helping resolve disruptions across complex, multi-carrier networks with full end-to-end visibility and customer control over their data. Simplifying international shipping with next-generation brokerage services that use AI, cross-border data and human expertise to help customers accurately interpret customs requirements worldwide for shipments of all sizes. Improving the cross-border experience with more predictable landed costs at checkout, more accurate product classifications via UPS Export Assure and digital trade documentation via UPS Paperless Invoice - reducing errors and accelerating processing. Enabling faster customs clearance with AI built into UPS's industry-leading brokerage capabilities. Outpacing the competition, 97% of UPS shipments clear customs on the first day of entry.
