Our Negotiation AI Hit Just Right at This Year’s PyCon DE 25 – Python Programming Conference in Darmstadt

Last April, PyCon DE 25 was bursting with exciting tech trends, and we had the pleasure of showcasing NegotiateAI, our negotiation AI designed to support the challenging plastic treaty negotiations at the United Nations. We walked the audience through our design process and design decisions for the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system powering NegotiateAI, and the response was fantastic.

Why NegotiateAI?

Plastic pollution negotiations are notoriously complex, involving mountains of negotiation documents updated on the fly during the conference, diverse stakeholder interests, and high-stakes decision-making. NegotiateAI leverages RAG technology to sift through massive data troves, pulling out exactly the right info to support negotiation strategies. This includes linking the sources of where the information was found and taking special care to prevent hallucinations in this application to ensure that only reliable facts are shared. Think of it as your AI-powered negotiation wingman: smart, quick, and always ready with the facts.

RAG Is Having Its Moment

RAG systems were definitely one of the hot topics at the conference this year. Our presentation gave attendees a concrete look at how RAG isn’t just a shiny new toy. It’s a powerful technological approach for combining information retrieval with generative AI. It’s clear the tech community is excited about RAG’s potential, and we were thrilled to be part of that conversation. The special draw of our application is that we made the approach simple to apply and impactful for the public sector. Something the industry is so far struggling to do.

Packed Room and Great Energy

Thanks to an early slot on the agenda, we kicked off the conference with a solid turnout; about 80% of the seats were filled. Even better, many attendees stuck around through the lunch break, posing questions and diving deep into the discussion. We were also approached multiple times throughout the event by attendees and organizers eager to chat more about NegotiateAI, which was a real highlight.

Networking That Goes Beyond Small Talk

Aside from the talk itself, the conference offered plenty of networking opportunities. I really enjoyed the conversations I joined about rigorous technical discussions and connecting with fellow tech enthusiasts and experts on shared technical interests. It’s always inspiring to meet people who are as passionate about pushing tech boundaries as we are whether on the application side or from a social impact lense.

In Summary

Presenting NegotiateAI was a rewarding experience: the audience engagement, the genuine interest around RAG, and the thoughtful conversations made it a standout moment. We’re excited to keep exploring how AI can make a difference in international negotiations and look forward to the next opportunity to share our work.

Wanna see for yourself? Test NegotiateAI here: Negotiate AI

Image 1: Even though we had some technical problems with the beamer we managed to deliver the talk together with Rahka – the consultant from &effect data solutions who were developing NegotiateAI with us.

Image 2: After delivering our talk Rahka and I had a debrief in the sun in front of Darmstadtium.