JNA reports on AI-supported testing at ICA | GemLab

JNA has published a feature on ICA | GemLab in its September 2026 issue. Amira Hatta, Managing Director, ICA | GemLab Global, spoke to the magazine about how we use AI in testing, what our reports now include, and where our research and expansion are heading. This post summarises the main points and links to the full article.

Where AI fits in the workflow

Following our merger with GAIA Scientific, formerly our technology partner, we apply AI across the testing workflow and daily operations. The AI does not issue the finding. It runs supporting checks alongside the analytical techniques applied to each stone, and a gemologist makes the final call.

“Each stone used to pass three to nine checkpoints before a conclusion is issued. Now, it goes through hundreds of supporting checks, helping our gemmologists make that final call.”

Amira Hatta, Managing Director, ICA | GemLab Global

Reference data covering more than 50 deposits

The reference data behind our origin findings now covers more than 50 deposits, with Ethiopia the most recent addition. Origin determination compares a stone’s trace element chemistry and spectroscopic features with reference material from known deposits. The wider that reference data, the more origin questions can be answered with confidence. Where the data cannot support a conclusion, the report says so.

See how the analysis works on the origin determination page.

Chemical data in our reports

Our reports now include chemical analysis, so you can see the underlying data as well as the findings drawn from it. Showing the data is part of how we work: a finding is only as useful as the method behind it.

Research in source markets

Dr. Dietmar Schwarz, the laboratory’s founding chief gemologist, has returned as Chief Research Scientist. He leads research into Ethiopian opal, new sapphire and tourmaline origins, aquamarine and spinel. The team is also developing a systematic classification for Ethiopian material.

What comes next

We are working towards ISO 27001, the international standard for information security management. ICA | GemLab India, in Surat, is due to open later this year.

“Turnaround in most cases is a question of capacity, not process. That is why we have made big steps into markets that we think will be far more significant in the future.”

Amira Hatta, Managing Director, ICA | GemLab Global

Since the interview

Amira Hatta has since received a NextGen Coloured Gem Excellence Award from the Jewellery World Awards, run by Informa Markets Jewellery, which also publishes JNA.

Read the full article

The full feature, in English and Chinese, is on page 45 of the September 2026 issue of JNA. For other coverage, see In the news.