Tim Schulteis, director of Digital Office at APG, was interviewed for the APG Annual Report 2024. In the conversation, he discusses APG's use of AI applications. What does it add? How safe is it? What pilots are there within APG? "I really think that a revolution in the collaboration between man and machine has begun."
APG is banking on new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). But what does that mean in practice?
“Our basic principle is: how can AI help you in your daily life to do your work even better? We see AI as an assistant that never gets tired and helps you with day-to-day tasks. Security is always a top priority: our own data must remain within our own walls and in no way whatsoever be shared with the provider of the AI service. And we want colleagues to be trained beforehand: they need to understand what’s best to ask or not ask AI do to.”
How do you build that up?
“Step by step, with a focus on security in particular. Several pilot projects are under way. In 2024, we and a group of legal colleagues started with a specific AI assistant within the APG environment that knows exactly what information you are and are not allowed to access in the organization. So it knows all the emails in your mailbox and all the documents that you’re authorized to see. And that information remains within our secure environment. We chose this group because legal work is knowledgeintensive, with a lot of reading and searching for information. The assistant can help with finding the right documentation and legislative texts, for example. The pilot project shows not only that AI can make the work more efficient but that colleagues enjoy their job a lot more: they are able to focus on those tasks that enable them as
professionals to make the difference.”
An AI tool from the Internet is not enough...
“No, publicly accessible tools like ChatGPT have too much of an open structure. What we definitely do not want is for everyone to upload their own APG documents to an open web interface and say: can you summarize this for me? Because then we run the risk of leaking company-sensitive or GDPR-sensitive information. We’ve taken the first steps to be able to start using such an application within our secure IT system. In an experiment, we’ve been feeding that model with APG-specific information so that our people can ask questions about APG situations. It’s a huge job that’s certainly going to take us some time, but we already have the first results. Technology is really on the move. I truly believe that a revolution in man and machine working in harmony
has begun.”