Procurement

How to evaluate AI vendors before rollout, using a practical checklist for data handling, governance, contract risk, security posture, and operational fit.

A shelf goes empty. A buyer blames the forecast. The forecast blames the promotion calendar. The warehouse blames the supplier. The supplier blames the port, the weather, or, if creativity is running low, “unexpected demand.” This little theatre is familiar because inventory failure is rarely one failure. It is a chain reaction. A SKU is not replenished too late simply because someone forgot to click “order.” It is replenished too late because demand sensing, stock monitoring, supplier reliability, lead-time uncertainty, product perishability, warehouse capacity, and purchasing authority are usually handled by separate systems pretending they are coordinated. Very modern. Very expensive. ...

TL;DR for operators PacifAIst asks a blunt question: when an AI system’s continued operation conflicts with human safety, does the model choose the humans, the mission, the resources, or itself? The paper turns that question into a 700-scenario benchmark across three forms of “Existential Prioritization”: self-preservation versus human safety, resource conflict, and goal preservation versus evasion.1 ...