The head of the competition watchdog said it is trialling a tool powered by artificial intelligence to crack down on ‘bid rigging’ in the economy.
Sarah Cardell, boss of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said the tool was designed to reduce the ‘significant risk’ of firms colluding when bidding for government procurement contracts, which are worth around £300billion per year.
AI will be used to scrape through data and spot ‘areas of potential anti-competitive conduct’, she told the Financial Times.
The CMA boss said a trial in one government department was already ‘proving quite successful’.
Forward thinking: The CMA said a trial in one government department was already ‘proving quite successful’
It comes as rules are set to be implemented which could ban firms from bidding for government contracts if they break competition law.
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