Salary negotiations are crucial for many employees struggling with emotional and psychological issues, but could soon benefit from support thanks to artificial intelligence.
Since 2021, Pactum AI, a global leader in procurement negotiations, has been using an AI-powered chatbot to negotiate salaries for its employees.
Ironclad, a startup backed by Sequoia Capital and Accel, is about to launch an AI agent that specializes in analyzing commercial contracts.
Public chatbots are used by individuals to practice negotiation and exchange ideas. Salary negotiations are often unsatisfying, stressful, and time-consuming for employers. So it's worth trying anything that might improve the process.
Workplace chaos in the age of coronavirus has altered work-life balance expectations for many workers, leading some to focus more on benefits than just gross pay.
It can be hard to keep asking for raises or privileges from people you've been with for years.
Those who don't usually negotiate their salary, or those who want better options beyond salary, like extra time off or another vacation, can take advantage of an AI-powered chatbot.
His salary negotiation bot Pactum AI was inspired by his own independent negotiation platform, which companies like Walmart use to negotiate with suppliers.
“The feedback from our 80 employees has been positive and demonstrated to us the importance of negotiating benefits and salaries and providing employees with a variety of job opportunities to choose from,” said Martin Rand, CEO of Pactum AI.
Pactum's AI-powered salary negotiation bot reduces manager bias and delivers better deals to both parties, but it needs constant calibration.
Rand envisions a future in which benefits are constantly changing, where robots have unlimited negotiation time when employee priorities change, companies need to cut costs, or have the resources to provide additional compensation.
Negotiations are by their very nature human interactions that require human intelligence, in which AI can be useful as long as it complements and does not replace human input.
AI advocates argue that the technology will expand workplace negotiations to reflect the different priorities of workers at different stages in their lives and with different family responsibilities, but that AI can also harm workers in wage negotiations.
Employees who do not have complete background information or who give chatbots bad advice may find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of information.
Automating contracts for low-value products is easy, but relying on chatbots to manage highly-skilled or exceptionally talented employees can ultimately turn away wanted employees.
Even untrained chatbots can compromise privacy and trade secrets. Pactum AI is now struggling to manage a large-scale salary negotiation bot, and the company plans to continue focusing on automating purchase negotiations.