Episode 87: The New AI Frontier in Forestry: Inside UPM’s Arnibot

Title: Episode 87: The New AI Frontier in Forestry: Inside UPM’s Arnibot Author(s): Worm, Loa Dalgaard Description: Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering the world of forestry. But what does that mean in practice? In this episode of Forest for the Future, we explore UPM’s AI-powered assistant, Arnibot, and what it reveals about the digital transformation of forest management. How can an AI agent support decision-making in complex forest operations? How do you ensure reliability, prevent hallucinations, and maintain alignment with standards and procedures? And what role could certification systems like FSC play in the future development of such tools? Host Loa Dalgaard Worm is joined by Joonas Palonen, AI Architect from UPM’s AI Center of Excellence, who unpack how Arnibot was developed, who uses it, and how it is continuously evaluated and improved. The conversation also looks ahead to what comes next—from multimodal interfaces and image recognition to potential applications in planning and certification contexts. This is a forward-looking conversation about technology, trust, and the evolving interface between artificial intelligence and responsible forest management.