Dear Negotiation Explorer,
If you buy or sell for a business, I’d like to hear how you’re using AI in your negotiations, or what you’re planning to try.
I’m on the steering committee of the Harvard AI Negotiation Forum. The Forum takes place online on January 10, 2027, and I’ll moderate a panel on AI in B2B negotiations.
In the last issue, I wrote about how a buyer’s and a seller’s decisions affect a negotiation before they begin discussing terms. Your example can come from that early work, from the negotiation itself, or from the contract.
What you could bring
Perhaps you use AI to compare supplier proposals before a negotiation. Perhaps your sales team uses it to prepare for a customer’s objections. You might be testing whether it helps you examine contract terms, or working out what people need to check before using its advice.
Tell me where the AI helps and where you have to correct it. If you’ve measured results, explain what you compared. Early observations are useful too, including cases where something didn’t work as expected.
If you’re still planning, tell me what you want to try and how you’ll decide whether it helps.
You may also see a part of your work where AI could help, even though you haven’t found anything that does it yet. Describe the task and what you think AI could improve for your organization. I’d welcome a proposal about that too.
Selected contributors will discuss their experience with other practitioners and researchers. A difficulty you’re working through may be something another buyer or seller is trying to resolve.
A simple template for your proposal
Use these five points to sketch your idea before filling in the Forum’s submission form. A sentence or two under each point is enough to get started.
The negotiation. I work in [buying or selling], and the negotiations I want to discuss involve [type of purchase, sale or business relationship]. We want to improve [specific part of the work].
The use of AI. We [already use / are testing / plan to use / would like to use] AI to [specific task]. Without AI, we do or did this by [approach].
What people decide. People check [what needs checking] and decide [what remains their responsibility].
What we know so far. We’ve observed [result or difficulty], based on [evidence]. For a plan or an idea, we think AI could bring [benefit for our organization], because [reason]. We could test that by [comparison or measure, if known].
What we want to discuss. We’d like to share [lesson] or ask about [unanswered question]. This matters to other buyers and sellers because [reason].
If you don’t yet know whether AI improves the result, say so.
How to contribute
The Forum asks for a short proposal by November 15, 2026. Selected contributors will join one of several one-hour panels and generally have 5–7 minutes to present, with time for discussion.
You can read the call for contributions and submit your proposal here. In your proposal, you can say it’s for the panel on AI in B2B negotiations.
Please also complete the survey on the AI Negotiation Forum website. Click “Take the Global Survey” to share your experience and help us understand how AI is entering negotiation work.
This week’s question
What are you using AI for in your negotiations, or what would you like to try next?
Reply with your idea, even if it’s still early. We can discuss whether it would fit the panel.
Yadvinder
