At the end of last year, Sumi released Finland’s first producer responsibility AI, the Sumilit service bot. Its purpose is to provide easily understandable information on the ins and outs of producer responsibility. The AI is being continuously developed and taught based on experiences gained and data collected from the system. How has the service bot been received over the first months and what kinds of developmental steps are in store?
The AI Agent tool, which was produced in cooperation by Sumi and Twoday AI Works, utilises a language model trained with extensive data, which is why people can discuss questions with it very easily and naturally.
“Our stakeholders have welcomed the tool, and we have only received positive feedback. The AI Agent has already processed 4 000 questions, which means that people have needed information on producer responsibility – this is why we decided to implement the tool,” says Sumi’s Account Manager Janne Teliranta.
Information on producer responsibility for packaging is really needed right now, because the statutory one-million-euro turnover limit for producer responsibility was removed at the start of the year. This made producer responsibility cover an estimated 30,000 new companies. Sumi Oy wants to leverage artificial intelligence to assist new companies that are still learning about their obligations.
“Most people have asked about whether or not the producer responsibility applies to their company. Other popular questions have pertained to what producer responsibility actually is, for example. The legislation for the packaging field is changing constantly, which is why we train and update the artificial intelligence to be able to provide our stakeholders with up-to-date information at all times,” Teliranta explains.
The knowledge base of the AI is being enriched with new definitions, regulations and directives
Sumi is currently teaching the AI the definitions of service and agricultural packaging, the SUP Directive and the upcoming PPWR. The specification of the service and agricultural packaging means a change in responsibilities within producer responsibility: where before a pizza restaurant was responsible for the environmental load of a pizza box, the paperboard factory that produced the box is now liable.
The SUP (single-use plastic) Directive aims to prevent and reduce the impact of single-use plastic on the environment and human health. As such, the expanded producer responsibility involves a new cost item, the SUP fee, which will be collected for the first time in Finland in 2024. Naturally, Sumi’s AI is also provided with information on preliminary decisions regarding the directive. The PPWR (packaging and packaging waste regulation), in turn, aims to reduce the amount of packaging waste in Europe and promote reusable options.
“The PPWR is a large and expansive package compared to the SUP Directive, for example, which is why it will apply to a larger number of companies. We expect this to result in more questions that any prior themes put together. For this reason, we want to provide the AI with as much information on the regulation as possible and help producers adapt to the changes and examine the need for future investments, for example,” Teliranta explains.
Sumi’s goal is to make the AI an extensive databank that helps the entire field and ensures that companies of all sizes and fields can find comprehensive and up-to-date information on producer responsibility. To make sure that the tool is guaranteed to offer accurate and understandable answers to the most difficult questions, it collects its data from the online content of Sumi and its partners, the public databases of authorities and the Finlex service on legal information.
The AI Agent presents itself in the form of the cartoon characters called the Sumilis. You can chat with them in the bottom right corner of the page!