Working Group: AI in Humanitarian Logistics
First meeting of the virtual working group on AI in humanitarian logistics. Participants identified areas of action where AI can support humanitarian organizations.
Purchasing, compliance, coordination – these are just three of many areas where AI can support humanitarian organizations in their day-to-day work. This was the conclusion reached by a virtual working group of representatives from the commercial sector and humanitarian organizations at their first meeting. Most of the participants are former speakers and guests of ConnectChains – The Humanitarian Supply Chain Conference, which is led by Thilo Jörgl from the Logistics Hall of Fame. The conference was organized by the Logistics Hall of Fame for the third time in Berlin in December 2025, where the idea of a virtual working group was born by Mitsuko Mizushima (Fritz Institute) and Prof. Sander de Leeuw (Wageningen University & Research).
The speaker at the online meeting was Max Meister, Co-CEO of the Bavarian wholesale company Ludwig Meister. Among other things, he explained how AI is used to transfer existing data from invoices to the company's database. The company uses ChatGPT for this purpose. According to Meister, the process was designed so that the Open AI tool automatically conducts discussions with the database to avoid errors in data integration. The wholesaler invested around three months in developing the script.
“The time savings are significant,” reported Max Meister. Based on his projects with AI, the entrepreneur gave participants three recommendations:
• The AI process must be broken down into small steps.
• In discussions with AI, the appropriate context must be provided at the appropriate time.
• In general, AI tools should not be provided with overly complex or excessive background information.
The entrepreneur agreed to explain to the group a specific process for using AI to update inventory lists from text messages. The virtual working group is planning its next online meeting for March 18 at 4 p.m. Experts from the software manufacturer AEB in Stuttgart will then report on IT projects for the organizations Ärzte ohne Grenzen and Archemed e.V.
(Photo: THW)
