Verified
UPS
Experimenting- Logistics
- ~460,000 employees
- CDTO reports to CEO
- Agentic AI in customs
- AI assistants in 20+ countries
- No AI return disclosed
UPS deploys AI inside named functions: agentic AI in customs brokerage, AI assistants for customer service in more than 20 countries, MeRA, which drafts customer email replies on OpenAI models, generative AI deal scoring for sales, and network planning on a digital twin of its package flows. Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital and Technology Officer since 2022, reports to CEO Carol Tomé. UPS has published no financial return credited to AI and no count of employees using AI; its $3.5 billion of 2025 savings came from automating and shrinking its network.
ups.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- UPS builds its own AI tools, among them MeRA for customer email, Deal Manager for pricing, ORION for delivery routes and Next Gen Brokerage for customs; its primary IT operations sit in an owned New Jersey facility, and it has worked with Google Cloud since 2019.
- The models
- UPS started MeRA on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 through Microsoft and said in May 2024 that it is not locked into one model; UPS has not named the models behind its newer agentic tools.
- The reach
- UPS has not said how many of its roughly 460,000 employees use AI; UPS runs AI assistants for customers in more than 20 countries (Jun 2026) and processed nearly 90% of cross-border transactions digitally with AI in 2025.
- The catch
- UPS has published no financial return credited to AI and no count of employees using AI tools; it credits its $3.5 billion of 2025 savings and 48,000 fewer operational positions to network reconfiguration and automation.
Snapshot
- Employees
- ~460,000
- End of 2025: 370,000 in the U.S., 90,000 abroad, about 75,000 in management (2025 Form 10-K)
- Technology budget
- Not disclosed
- Capital expenditures were $3.7B in 2025 and about $3.0B is planned for 2026; UPS does not break out technology
- AI/ML headcount
- Not disclosed
- More than 5,000 UPS staff were dedicated to technology in 2022 (CIO Dive)
- Who owns AI
- Bala Subramanian
- EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer since Jul 2022; reports to CEO Carol Tomé
- Platform
- Hybrid
- MeRA, Deal Manager, ORION and Next Gen Brokerage built in-house on bought models and cloud
- Models
- OpenAI GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4
- Behind MeRA through Microsoft (May 2024); UPS says it is not locked into one model
- Reach
- Not disclosed
- No count of employees using AI; AI assistants serve customers in 20+ countries (Jun 2026)
- Use cases
- Customs, customer service, pricing, routing, fraud
- No published count of production AI use cases
Key findings
UPS said on Jan 27, 2026 that it used AI and its Next Gen Brokerage tools to process nearly 90% of all cross-border transactions digitally in 2025, after adding agentic AI to formal customs entries in 2025; the share of U.S.-bound packages cleared each day without manual intervention rose from about 21% of 13,000 in Mar 2025 to 90% of 112,000 in Sep 2025.
UPS said on Jun 18, 2026 that it runs AI assistants for customer service across digital and voice channels in more than 20 countries, is expanding a digital twin of its network that updates every 10 minutes, and is deploying agentic control towers with customers; Fortune ranked UPS 56th on its AIQ 75 list on Sep 29, 2026.
UPS built MeRA, a generative AI tool that drafts replies to some of the roughly 52,000 customer emails it receives each day, on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 through Microsoft; MeRA reached limited production in Nov 2023, and Bala Subramanian said in May 2024 that it would extend to HR, sales and finance.
Bala Subramanian has owned technology, industrial engineering and digital transformation at UPS as EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer since Jul 2022, reporting to CEO Carol Tomé, with Mallory Freeman leading enterprise data analytics and generative AI (Apr 2026) and Vikas Sah appointed vice president of AI and machine learning (Aug 2026).
UPS has published no financial return credited to AI: its $3.5 billion of 2025 savings, the 48,000 fewer operational positions in 2025 and about $1.8 billion of program benefits in the first nine months of 2026 are credited to network reconfiguration, automation and the Amazon volume cut.
Where UPS sits
- Stage
- Experimenting
UPS has reported no business return it credits to AI, for any use case or for the company as a whole: the nearly 90% of cross-border transactions it processed digitally with AI in 2025, Deal Manager's 79% win rate and MeRA's 50% cut in email handling time during its pilot are operating measures, the up to $400 million a year UPS cited for routing software in 2019 has not been updated, and UPS credits its $3.5 billion of 2025 savings to network reconfiguration and automation, not to AI. UPS has not reported a company-wide AI rollout with a user count either: Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, owns AI and reports to Carol Tomé, but UPS has not said how many of its roughly 460,000 employees use AI tools, and its reach figures, such as AI assistants in more than 20 countries, describe service to customers. That leaves UPS at Experimenting although AI runs in production in customs, customer service, pricing and routing; one cost, revenue or headcount return it credits to AI, or an official count of employees using its AI tools, would move it to Piloting.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- Bala Subramanian, EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer, reporting to the CEO
- Platform
- Hybrid: In-house tools (MeRA, Deal Manager, ORION) on bought models and cloud
- Models
- OpenAI GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 behind MeRA (2024); others not disclosed
- Hosting
- OpenAI models through Microsoft for MeRA; Google Cloud partner since 2019; primary IT operations in an owned New Jersey facility
- Reach
- Employee use not disclosed; AI assistants for customers in 20+ countries (Jun 2026)
How they deploy
Build the tools, buy the models
UPS builds its AI applications in-house and buys the underlying models and cloud. UPS developed MeRA itself, started it on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 through Microsoft, and said in May 2024 that it is not locked into one model. Bala Subramanian said UPS wrapped MeRA in a custom agent framework trained on UPS business rules and its knowledge base, and called that framework a blueprint for AI across the enterprise.
AI on top of a sensing network
UPS is moving from scanning packages to sensing them with RFID, through its Smart Package Smart Facility program, and has invested more than $100 million in the technology (Apr 2026). UPS told investors in Jul 2026 that AI turns RFID data from billions of package movements into decisions, predictions and actions. Bala Subramanian told Fortune in Sep 2026 that each of the roughly 20.8 million packages UPS handles a day has a virtual copy in its digital twin, and that AI reads about 1 billion data signals to predict delivery problems and reroute packages.
AI where trade and pricing get complex
UPS has pointed its newest AI at customs and pricing. UPS uses AI to check that imports carry the correct Harmonized System product classification codes, added agentic AI to formal customs entries in 2025, and scores sales deals with generative AI in its Deal Manager tool, Carol Tomé said. UPS's 2025 Form 10-K says its digital tools support automated agents, personalization and customized pricing for customers.
Automation carries the cost program
UPS's largest efficiency program is physical automation, not AI. UPS's Network of the Future plan, set out in Mar 2024, aims to reach 400 automated buildings by the end of 2028, and Bala Subramanian said the focus is end-to-end automation inside each facility. UPS credits its 2025 and 2026 savings to closing buildings, automating sorts and cutting Amazon volume, and Carol Tomé said in Apr 2026 that expanded automation and robotic deployments will make the network more productive.
Training staff alongside the tools
UPS runs learning programs so that employees can use data analytics and AI as their roles change, Supply Chain Dive reported in Apr 2026 in an interview with Mallory Freeman. Carol Tomé has described a vision of sort centers run partly by robots, with UPS staff upskilled to oversee them.
- Deployment model
- UPS runs AI from a central Digital and Technology organization under Bala Subramanian, who has led technology, industrial engineering and digital transformation since Jul 2022 and reports to CEO Carol Tomé; the Chief Information Security Officer reports to him. Mallory Freeman leads global enterprise data analytics and generative AI (Apr 2026) and Vikas Sah was appointed vice president of AI and machine learning in 2026; UPS has not published where either reports. AI products also come from business units: UPS Capital sells UPS Secure Commerce with agentic AI agents, and Happy Returns built Return Vision for returns fraud. Since Sep 1, 2026, Nando Cesarone has run the global network and its Intelligent Network of the Future initiatives.
- Model providers
- UPS started MeRA in 2023 on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4, which CIO.com described in May 2024 as Microsoft OpenAI models, and a UPS representative said the company is not locked into one model. UPS has not named the models behind its agentic customs brokerage, Deal Manager's generative AI scoring, its customer service assistants, UPS Secure Commerce or Return Vision. Happy Returns works with Wyllo to score returns for risk based on shopper behavior (Nov 2025).
- Data and infrastructure
- UPS's information technology headquarters is in Parsippany, New Jersey, and its primary IT operations are consolidated in an owned facility in New Jersey, according to the 2025 Form 10-K. CIO Dive reported in Apr 2022 that UPS ran four mainframes and 76.3 petabytes of storage, had just expanded its partnership with Google Cloud, with which it had worked on routing software in 2019, and planned to add data analytics and AI and machine learning tools as cloud capacity grew. UPS has RFID sensing in all of its U.S. package delivery vehicles and expects to have delivered more than 4 billion RFID-enabled packages by the end of 2026, and Supply Chain Dive reported in Apr 2026 that UPS works to keep its data clean and accessible for its AI systems.
Platforms and internal tools
MeRA (Message Response Automation)Nov 2023, limited production
MeRA is UPS's in-house generative AI tool for its customer contact center: it reads incoming customer emails, pulls package tracking history and UPS policies, and drafts a reply that an agent confirms before it is sent. UPS started the project in Jul 2023, moved it to beta in Oct 2023, and won a 2024 CIO 100 Award for it; Bala Subramanian said in May 2024 that MeRA would extend to other functions, including HR, sales and finance.
- Users
- Customer email agents; scope of about 52,000 emails a day (May 2024)
- Models
- OpenAI GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4, through Microsoft
Next Gen BrokerageAgentic AI added by Oct 2025
Next Gen Brokerage is UPS's customs brokerage platform; UPS integrated agentic AI into it in 2025 to simplify formal entry processes, and said in Jun 2026 that AI built into its brokerage tools speeds customs clearance.
Deal ManagerBy early 2024
Deal Manager gives UPS salespeople real-time pricing guidance using AI and machine learning; Carol Tomé said in 2025 that each deal is now scored with generative AI.
- Users
- Used in 95% of UPS deals under $1 million (Matt Guffey, Mar 2024)
ORION and Network Planning ToolsORION piloted 2010 to 2011; dynamic ORION 2021
ORION (On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation) plans UPS delivery routes, and its dynamic version, rolled out from fall 2020 with completion expected in Jul 2021, re-optimizes routes during the day. UPS's Network Planning Tools and Harmonized Enterprise Analytic Tool give it a digital twin of real-time package flow, and UPS said in Jun 2026 that it is extending a digital twin of its global network, updated every 10 minutes, to all modes of transportation.
- Users
- 97% of the ORION van fleet on dynamic ORION (Jun 2021)
UPS Global CheckoutMar 26, 2025
UPS Global Checkout shows online shoppers a guaranteed total landed cost, including duties, taxes and fees, before they buy; UPS describes it as powered by AI, which assesses the items in a cart to calculate the charges. UPS offers it in 43 origin countries.
Return Vision (Happy Returns)Pilot from Nov 2025
Return Vision is Happy Returns' AI auditing software: returns flagged as high risk are photographed at a Return Hub and compared with the retailer's catalog images to catch decoy items, with audits completed within a day. Happy Returns said less than 1% of Return Bar returns are flagged and planned a wider rollout in 2026.
UPS Secure CommerceSep 30, 2026
UPS Secure Commerce, sold through UPS Capital, combines InsureShield shipping insurance, the Parcel Pro shipping platform and CommerceShield checkout fraud screening, with agentic AI agents added, so merchants can screen orders for fraud and manage delivery risk. Bala Subramanian said at launch that UPS combines its data with agentic AI to help customers act on supply chain risk before losses occur, and Carol Tomé said on Oct 27, 2026 that UPS uses data and AI in it to help customers reduce fraud.
Vendors and partners
OpenAI (through Microsoft)2023
Models behind MeRA: GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 · CIO.com reported in May 2024 that UPS started MeRA on Microsoft OpenAI models and is not locked into one model.
Google Cloud2019
Cloud partner; routing software collaboration · CIO Dive reported in Apr 2022 that UPS had just expanded its Google Cloud partnership after working with Google Cloud on routing software in 2019.
WylloNov 2025
Behavioral risk scoring for Happy Returns returns · Happy Returns pairs Wyllo's risk scores with its Return Vision audits in the returns fraud pilot.
Pickle RobotDec 2025 (reported)
Truck-unloading robots that use AI to move boxes · Bloomberg reported that UPS will invest about $120 million in 400 Pickle robots for deployment from the second half of 2026; UPS did not confirm the purchase and said contract details are private.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
AI org map
Central Digital and Technology organization reporting to the CEO; AI products also built in business units
UPS created the Chief Digital and Technology Officer role in Jun 2022 and filled it with Bala Subramanian, who reports to CEO Carol Tomé and oversees technology, industrial engineering and digital transformation; the Chief Information Security Officer reports to him. Under the global operating model that took effect on Sep 1, 2026, Subramanian still reports to Tomé, alongside Nando Cesarone for global operations, Matt Guffey for U.S. businesses, Wilfredo Ramos for international, healthcare and supply chain businesses, and a Chief Global Commercial Strategy Officer whom UPS was still seeking.
UPS does not publish an AI or data science headcount. CIO Dive reported in Apr 2022 that more than 5,000 UPS employees were dedicated to technology. UPS's AI work is led from the Digital and Technology organization under Bala Subramanian, alongside Mallory Freeman's enterprise data analytics and generative AI group and the AI and machine learning team Vikas Sah was appointed to lead in 2026, whose reporting lines UPS has not published; UPS Capital and Happy Returns ship AI products of their own.
Reporting lines
Chief Executive Officer
Carol Tomé
Digital and Technology
Bala Subramanian, EVP and CDTO
Technology, industrial engineering and digital transformation (Jun 2022 announcement)
Global Enterprise Data Analytics and Generative AI
Reporting line not published; placed under the CDTO by inference
AI and Machine Learning
Vikas Sah, VP
Reporting line not published; placed under the CDTO by inference
Information Security
The CISO, not named in the 2025 Form 10-K, reports to the CDTO
Global Operations
Nando Cesarone, EVP
Air network, surface transportation, building and engineering, Intelligent Network of the Future (since Sep 1, 2026)
Finance
Brian Dykes, EVP and CFO
UPS's 2025 Form 10-K says the CISO reports to the Chief Digital and Technology Officer, who reports to the CEO, and UPS's 2026 proxy statement says the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, CDTO and CISO each meet regularly with the board's Risk Committee. UPS has not published where Mallory Freeman's or Vikas Sah's groups report, or a chief AI or chief data officer title, and has not said where UPS Capital sits under the Sep 2026 operating model.
Where the AI workforce sits
Digital and Technology, including data analytics, generative AI and AI and machine learning
UPS has not published how many data scientists or AI engineers it employs; more than 5,000 staff worked in technology in 2022.
Not disclosedBusiness units: UPS Capital, Happy Returns and brokerage
UPS Capital and Happy Returns ship their own AI products, and the brokerage business runs Next Gen Brokerage.
Not disclosed
Named people
Use cases
UPS has not published a count of its AI use cases; the ones it has named are customs brokerage, customer service assistants and agents, customer email replies (MeRA), deal pricing (Deal Manager), delivery routing (ORION), network planning on digital twins, agentic control towers for customers, landed-cost quotes (Global Checkout), returns fraud (Return Vision, in pilot) and fraud tools for merchants (UPS Secure Commerce). UPS has published no business return credited to AI for any of them. The savings UPS reports, $3.5 billion in 2025 and about $1.8 billion of program benefits in the first nine months of 2026, come from network reconfiguration, automation and the Amazon volume cut, which UPS does not attribute to AI.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agentic AI in customs brokerage UPS added agentic AI to formal customs entries in its Next Gen Brokerage tools in 2025 and uses AI to check product classification codes on imports. UPS cleared 90% of about 112,000 U.S.-bound packages a day without manual intervention in Sep 2025, up from about 21% of 13,000 in Mar 2025, and said it processed nearly 90% of all cross-border transactions digitally in 2025. | International and brokerage | In production | |
| AI customer service assistants and agents UPS runs AI-enabled assistants across digital and voice channels in more than 20 countries, gives customer care teams AI-generated shipment insights to resolve inquiries and claims, and said in Jun 2026 that AI and staff together would support more than 98% of customer service requests by the end of 2026. Bala Subramanian told Fortune in Sep 2026 that a tracking agent retrieves shipment status when customers call and an onboarding agent schedules time-definite deliveries. UPS's U.S. president of sales said in May 2024 that AI-enabled chatbots answer small and medium-sized business shippers. | Customer contact | In production | |
| MeRA customer email replies MeRA drafts replies to customer emails from tracking data and UPS policies for agents to confirm, covering part of about 52,000 emails a day; UPS said agents spent 50% less time resolving emails during the pilot (May 2024). | Customer contact | In production | |
| Deal Manager pricing and deal scoring Deal Manager gives salespeople real-time pricing guidance and scores each deal with generative AI. Carol Tomé cited a 79% win rate with the tool on an earnings call, Supply Chain Dive reported in Feb 2024, and said in 2025 that win rates are higher and discounting lower than before, without giving figures. | Sales | In production | |
| ORION route optimization ORION plans delivery routes, and dynamic ORION re-optimizes them during the day; UPS said in Jun 2021 that the upgrade cut routes by two to four miles per driver on average. | Operations | In production | |
| Network planning and digital twins UPS's network planning tools, which Carol Tomé said use AI and machine learning, moved volume from non-automated to automated hubs as customers diverted packages in mid-2023. UPS tests routing changes on digital twins before making them (Apr 2026), said in Jun 2026 that its network digital twin updates every 10 minutes and is being extended to all modes of transportation, and runs planning tools that model what-if scenarios on weather, delays and volume forecasts. | Operations | In production | |
| AI on RFID package data UPS told investors in Jul 2026 that AI turns RFID data from billions of package movements into decisions, predictions and actions, alongside RFID sensing in all U.S. package delivery vehicles, RFID labels on every package shipped at The UPS Store and, by Oct 2026, RFID labeling at 315 customer locations. | Operations | In production | |
| Agentic control towers UPS said in Jun 2026 that it is deploying agentic control tower capabilities on site with customers, combining data, predictive models and connected services to flag and help resolve disruptions across multi-carrier networks. | Customers | Announced | |
| Global Checkout landed-cost quotes UPS Global Checkout uses AI to assess the items in an online cart and calculate duties, taxes and fees, and guarantees the landed cost shown at checkout in 43 origin countries. | International and e-commerce | In production | |
| UPS Secure Commerce fraud and risk tools UPS Secure Commerce combines shipping insurance, the Parcel Pro platform and CommerceShield checkout fraud screening with agentic AI agents for merchants, launched on Sep 30, 2026. | UPS Capital | In production | |
| Return Vision returns fraud auditing Happy Returns scores returns for risk and audits flagged items with Return Vision, an AI model that compares returned products with catalog images to catch decoys, in a pilot with retailers such as Everlane. UPS said in Jun 2026 that Happy Returns is also adding a conversational AI experience for returns. | Happy Returns | Pilot |
Adoption
UPS spread AI first through operations, with ORION route planning piloted in 2010 and 2011 and AI and machine learning network planning tools, then into customer service and sales with MeRA and Deal Manager in 2023 and 2024, and into customs, customer service assistants and merchant products with agentic AI in 2025 and 2026. UPS reports reach for individual tools, such as Deal Manager in 95% of deals under $1 million (Mar 2024), AI assistants for customers in more than 20 countries (Jun 2026) and nearly 90% of cross-border transactions processed digitally (2025), but has not said how many of its roughly 460,000 employees use AI tools or whether it offers a company-wide AI assistant.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
2010 to 2011
UPS piloted its ORION route optimization algorithm in eight locations after testing it from 2003 to 2009.
2019
UPS worked with Google Cloud on routing software, according to CIO Dive's 2022 account.
Jun 2021
UPS said dynamic ORION, which re-optimizes routes during the day, ran on 97% of its ORION van fleet and cut routes by two to four miles per driver.
Apr 2022
UPS expanded its Google Cloud partnership and planned new data analytics and AI and machine learning tools as cloud capacity grew, CIO Dive reported.
Jul 2022
Bala Subramanian joined UPS as its first Chief Digital and Technology Officer, reporting to Carol Tomé.
Aug 2023
Carol Tomé said UPS used AI and machine learning network tools to move volume to automated hubs as customers diverted packages during labor talks.
Nov 2023
UPS put MeRA, its generative AI email reply tool on OpenAI models, into limited production after starting it in Jul 2023.
Feb 2024
Supply Chain Dive reported that Carol Tomé had cited a 79% win rate for Deal Manager, UPS's pricing tool that uses AI and machine learning.
Mar 2024
Matt Guffey said 95% of UPS deals under $1 million run through Deal Manager, its AI pricing tool.
Mar 2025
UPS launched Global Checkout, which it describes as powered by AI, to show duties, taxes and fees for cross-border online orders in 43 origin countries.
Oct 2025
UPS told investors it had integrated agentic AI into Next Gen Brokerage to simplify formal customs entries.
Nov 2025
Happy Returns began piloting Return Vision AI auditing for returns fraud with select retailers.
Jun 2026
UPS said it runs AI assistants for customer service in more than 20 countries and is deploying agentic control towers with customers.
Sep 2026
UPS launched UPS Secure Commerce with agentic AI agents for merchant fraud and delivery risk.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology budget
UPS does not disclose a technology or AI budget. UPS's capital expenditures were $3.7 billion in 2025, and UPS plans about $3.0 billion in 2026. UPS has invested more than $100 million in RFID (Apr 2026), and CIO Dive reported in Apr 2022 that UPS's then chief information and engineering officer ran a $6 billion budget.
What AI itself costs
UPS has not disclosed what it spends on AI models, cloud inference or AI staff. UPS's 2025 Form 10-K says it is increasing its use of AI to optimize operations, improve the customer experience and support decisions, without a cost figure.
Reported ROI
UPS has published no financial return credited to AI. Carol Tomé said in 2025 that generative AI deal scoring raised win rates and lowered discounting, without figures, and Bala Subramanian said in May 2024 that MeRA saves UPS time and money after a pilot that halved agents' email handling time. CIO Dive reported in Apr 2022 that UPS had cited savings of up to $400 million a year from routing software built with Google Cloud in 2019; UPS has not updated that figure.
Savings credited to automation
UPS delivered $3.5 billion of savings in 2025 from network reconfiguration and Efficiency Reimagined, removed 26.9 million labor hours, cut 48,000 operational positions including 15,000 seasonal ones, and closed 93 buildings. UPS reported about $1.8 billion of program benefits in the first nine months of 2026 and expects nearly $3 billion for the year. Carol Tomé said in Jul 2026 that cost per piece in an automated building is about 28% lower than in a non-automated one, and 68.5% of U.S. volume ran through automated buildings at the end of Jun 2026; UPS credits these gains to automation and consolidation, not AI.
Headcount
UPS had about 460,000 employees at the end of 2025, down from about 490,000 a year earlier and 534,000 in Jun 2022. UPS cut about 14,000 positions, mostly in management, under its Fit to Serve program in 2024, 48,000 operational positions in 2025, and about 7,500 full-time driver positions through its Driver Choice buyout in 2026. UPS ties these reductions to the Amazon volume cut and automation; it has not said that AI replaced any roles.
Governance and risk
Board oversight
UPS's board delegated AI risk oversight to its Risk Committee in 2025 and has revised the committee's charter to include cybersecurity and AI risk, according to the Mar 2026 proxy statement. The Risk Committee's remit covers technology, AI, cybersecurity and business continuity, and the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, the Chief Digital and Technology Officer and the CISO each meet with it regularly.
Security reporting line
UPS's Chief Information Security Officer reports to Bala Subramanian, who reports to the CEO, and UPS management also sits on an Information Security and Privacy Governance Council, according to the 2025 Form 10-K.
Disclosed AI risks
UPS's 2025 Form 10-K warns that wider use of AI intensifies its cybersecurity risk, that AI systems need large volumes of sensitive data, that a compromised AI system could lead to data breaches, and that AI used in internal functions could introduce operational vulnerabilities if the underlying data is flawed.
People confirm AI output
UPS designed MeRA so that agents confirm every reply the model suggests, and trained it on UPS business rules and its knowledge base (May 2024). Happy Returns uses Return Vision to check the decisions of its warehouse staff, and the images help retailers explain refused refunds to shoppers (Jan 2026).
Customer data in agentic tools
UPS said in Jun 2026 that customers keep control over their own data in the agentic control towers it deploys on their sites.
Recent signals
Oct 27, 2026
Carol Tomé said on the Q3 2026 call that UPS uses data and AI in UPS Secure Commerce to help customers reduce fraud, and that nearly 70% of packages will flow through automated processes at peak.
Sep 30, 2026
UPS launched UPS Secure Commerce, adding agentic AI agents to its InsureShield insurance, Parcel Pro platform and CommerceShield fraud screening for merchants.
Sep 29, 2026
Fortune ranked UPS 56th on its AIQ 75 list, and Bala Subramanian said AI reads about 1 billion data signals a day in UPS's digital twin to predict delivery problems and reroute packages.
Aug 31, 2026
UPS announced a global operating model effective Sep 1, 2026, with Nando Cesarone over global operations and the Intelligent Network of the Future initiatives and Bala Subramanian still reporting to the CEO.
Aug 12, 2026
CDO Magazine reported that UPS appointed Vikas Sah, previously at VF Corporation, as vice president of AI and machine learning to apply AI, machine learning and agentic AI.
Jul 28, 2026
UPS told investors that AI turns RFID data from billions of package movements into decisions, predictions and actions, and that every package shipped at The UPS Store is RFID-enabled.
Jun 18, 2026
UPS set out its AI program: assistants for customer service in more than 20 countries, AI-powered tracking on RFID data, a network digital twin updated every 10 minutes, agentic control towers with customers and AI in customs brokerage.
Apr 6, 2026
Supply Chain Dive reported, interviewing Mallory Freeman, that UPS uses AI for import classification, deal pricing and digital twin simulations, and trains staff to use data analytics and AI as their roles change.
Mar 19, 2026
UPS's proxy statement said the board delegated AI risk oversight to the Risk Committee in 2025.
Feb 17, 2026
UPS's 2025 Form 10-K said UPS is increasing its use of AI to optimize operations, improve the customer experience and support decisions, and warned that wider AI use intensifies its cybersecurity risks.
Jan 27, 2026
Carol Tomé said UPS used AI and Next Gen Brokerage to process nearly 90% of all cross-border transactions digitally in 2025, and that UPS deployed automation in 57 buildings that year.
Jan 7, 2026
Supply Chain Dive reported that Happy Returns is piloting Return Vision, which uses AI to compare returned items with catalog images, with retailers including Everlane and a wider rollout planned for 2026.
Dec 15, 2025
Bloomberg reported that UPS will invest about $120 million in 400 truck-unloading robots from Pickle Robot, which uses AI to move boxes, for deployment from the second half of 2026; UPS did not confirm the purchase.
Quick answers
- How does UPS deploy AI?
- UPS deploys AI inside named functions: agentic AI in customs brokerage, AI assistants for customer service in more than 20 countries, MeRA, which drafts customer email replies on OpenAI models, generative AI deal scoring for sales, and network planning on a digital twin of its package flows. Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital and Technology Officer since 2022, reports to CEO Carol Tomé. UPS has published no financial return credited to AI and no count of employees using AI; its $3.5 billion of 2025 savings came from automating and shrinking its network.
- What does UPS use AI for?
- UPS has not published a count of its AI use cases; the ones it has named are customs brokerage, customer service assistants and agents, customer email replies (MeRA), deal pricing (Deal Manager), delivery routing (ORION), network planning on digital twins, agentic control towers for customers, landed-cost quotes (Global Checkout), returns fraud (Return Vision, in pilot) and fraud tools for merchants (UPS Secure Commerce). UPS has published no business return credited to AI for any of them. The savings UPS reports, $3.5 billion in 2025 and about $1.8 billion of program benefits in the first nine months of 2026, come from network reconfiguration, automation and the Amazon volume cut, which UPS does not attribute to AI.
- Who leads AI at UPS?
- AI at UPS is led by Bala Subramanian (EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer); Mallory Freeman (President, Global Enterprise Data Analytics and Generative AI); Vikas Sah (Vice President, AI and Machine Learning). Ownership of AI on the org chart: Bala Subramanian, EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer, reporting to the CEO.
- What AI platform does UPS use?
- UPS builds its own AI tools, among them MeRA for customer email, Deal Manager for pricing, ORION for delivery routes and Next Gen Brokerage for customs; its primary IT operations sit in an owned New Jersey facility, and it has worked with Google Cloud since 2019.
- Which AI models does UPS use?
- UPS started MeRA on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 through Microsoft and said in May 2024 that it is not locked into one model; UPS has not named the models behind its newer agentic tools.
- How many UPS employees use AI?
- UPS has not said how many of its roughly 460,000 employees use AI; UPS runs AI assistants for customers in more than 20 countries (Jun 2026) and processed nearly 90% of cross-border transactions digitally with AI in 2025.
- How far has AI spread at UPS?
- UPS has reported no business return it credits to AI, for any use case or for the company as a whole: the nearly 90% of cross-border transactions it processed digitally with AI in 2025, Deal Manager's 79% win rate and MeRA's 50% cut in email handling time during its pilot are operating measures, the up to $400 million a year UPS cited for routing software in 2019 has not been updated, and UPS credits its $3.5 billion of 2025 savings to network reconfiguration and automation, not to AI. UPS has not reported a company-wide AI rollout with a user count either: Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, owns AI and reports to Carol Tomé, but UPS has not said how many of its roughly 460,000 employees use AI tools, and its reach figures, such as AI assistants in more than 20 countries, describe service to customers. That leaves UPS at Experimenting although AI runs in production in customs, customer service, pricing and routing; one cost, revenue or headcount return it credits to AI, or an official count of employees using its AI tools, would move it to Piloting.
Open questions
- How many UPS employees use generative AI tools, and does UPS offer a company-wide AI assistant beyond tools for specific teams such as MeRA and Deal Manager?
- What business return do MeRA, Deal Manager, the customer service assistants, agentic customs brokerage and ORION deliver today, given that UPS's last published routing savings figure dates from 2019?
- How much does UPS spend on AI, and what share of its roughly $3.0 billion of 2026 capital expenditures goes to technology?
- Which models and clouds run UPS's AI now, beyond the OpenAI models behind MeRA in 2024 and the Google Cloud partnership expanded in 2022?
- Did MeRA extend to HR, sales and finance as Bala Subramanian planned in May 2024?
- Did Happy Returns roll Return Vision out beyond its pilot in 2026, and with what results for UPS?
- Where do Mallory Freeman's enterprise data analytics and generative AI group and Vikas Sah's AI and machine learning team report?
- How much of UPS's workforce reduction in 2025 and 2026 came from automation and AI rather than the Amazon volume cut?
Sources
UPS
- Executive leadership changes and new global operating model (Aug 31, 2026)
- UPS releases 3Q 2026 earnings (Oct 27, 2026)
- Proof Over Promises: UPS's AI initiatives (Jun 18, 2026)
- UPS's RFID sensing technology rollout (Apr 14, 2026)
- Strategic initiatives and three-year financial targets, investor day (Mar 26, 2024)
- UPS appoints Brian Dykes as Chief Financial Officer (Jul 9, 2024)
- UPS welcomes its first Chief Digital and Technology Officer (Jun 14, 2022)
Filings and investor materials
- UPS 2025 Form 10-K (filed Feb 17, 2026)
- UPS 2024 Form 10-K
- UPS 2026 proxy statement (Mar 19, 2026)
- UPS releases 4Q 2025 earnings (Jan 27, 2026)
- Q3 2026 earnings presentation (Oct 27, 2026)
- Q2 2026 earnings presentation (Jul 28, 2026)
- Q1 2026 earnings presentation (Apr 28, 2026)
- Q4 2025 earnings presentation (Jan 27, 2026)
- Q3 2025 earnings presentation (Oct 28, 2025)
- Q1 2025 earnings presentation (Apr 29, 2025)
- Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, The Motley Fool (Oct 27, 2026)
- Q1 2026 earnings call transcript, The Motley Fool (Apr 28, 2026)
- Q4 2025 earnings call transcript, The Motley Fool (Jan 27, 2026)
UPS subsidiaries
News
- Fortune: From Pfizer to UPS, the newest members of the AIQ 75 (Sep 29, 2026)
- Logistics Management: UPS launches Secure Commerce platform (Oct 1, 2026)
- FreightWaves: FedEx and UPS highlight parcel security, risk management tools (Oct 2, 2026)
- Supply Chain Dive: How UPS is using AI, from shipper pricing to customs clearance (Apr 6, 2026)
- CIO.com: UPS delivers customer wins with generative AI (May 3, 2024)
- FreightWaves: UPS shift away from Amazon shows bigger payoff (Jul 28, 2026)
- FreightWaves: UPS to eliminate 20K jobs as Amazon decoupling accelerates (Apr 29, 2025)
- CDO Magazine: UPS taps Vikas Sah as VP of AI and Machine Learning (Aug 12, 2026)
- Transport Topics, from Bloomberg: UPS purchases 400 robots to unload trucks (Dec 15, 2025)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS aims to double RFID-labeled volume from customer locations (Oct 30, 2026)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS launches new global operating model, revamps exec roles (Sep 1, 2026)
- Supply Chain Dive: Over two-thirds of US volume now handled by automated locations (Jul 30, 2026)
- Supply Chain Dive: Happy Returns pilots AI tool to halt decoy returns fraud (Jan 7, 2026)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS plans 20K job cuts as Amazon pullback advances (Apr 29, 2025)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS debuts Global Checkout (Mar 26, 2025)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS and FedEx battle over small business customers (May 13, 2024)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS plans to close around 200 US facilities, shift volume to automated hubs (Mar 26, 2024)
- Supply Chain Dive: Why UPS keeps shrinking its workforce (Feb 23, 2024)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS uses AI, machine learning to match network capacity with lower volumes (Aug 14, 2023)
- CIO Dive via Supply Chain Dive: how UPS's former CIO shaped its technology strategy (Apr 6, 2022)
- Supply Chain Dive: UPS adds dynamic routing to ORION (Jun 11, 2021)
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
UPS profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026
