Adidas rolls out AI legal chatbot for staff guidance

Adidas has deployed Josef's AI question-and-answer tool to assist its workforce of over 65,000 employees in accessing legal and compliance guidance. This initiative was driven by General Counsel Katherine Roseveare, who identified "infobesity" as a major issue, noting that legal teams produce extensive documents that employees rarely read. The company chose a chatbot interface to match how employees naturally communicate and search for information. Accuracy is a central concern, particularly for compliance matters, so Adidas carefully evaluated options like Microsoft Copilot before selecting Josef. The tool has revealed unexpected benefits, such as employees asking questions they might otherwise have kept to themselves, including sensitive topics like gifts and conduct. Additionally, the system supports non-native speakers by allowing them to ask questions in their natural language. The data generated from these interactions provides Adidas' legal team with valuable insights into staff concerns, helping to improve training materials and compliance programs. Roseveare emphasises that the success of such projects relies heavily on organisational change management rather than the software alone, advocating for a strategy that tests tools against existing habits and identifies "super duper wow wow" users to champion new initiatives.

(Source：It Brief Australia)