The Finnish Technology Industries Centennial Foundation offered funding for an AI-related thesis, and we saw this as an opportunity to deepen our own artificial intelligence expertise. We set out to find a suitable person for the job, and Tero Kauppinen was selected from the applicants. Tero received a full 20,000 euros in funding from the foundation to complete his thesis.
The topic of the work was the development of Graniitti's artificial intelligence capabilities. The work examined how generative artificial intelligence affects expert work, what kind of needs and capabilities the organization has, and how the utilization of artificial intelligence can be developed in an expert organization like Graniitti.
Tero says that the topic interested him especially because generative artificial intelligence has quickly become part of knowledge and expert work.
“The development and widespread use of generative AI tools opened my eyes to how AI will change knowledge and expert work in the coming years. I wanted to participate in a project where I could research the topic in an expert organization and familiarize myself with the latest academic articles, organizational reports, and future outlooks,” Tero says.
Tero went to work with an open mind to learn about both the topic and Granitit’s current operating methods and development needs. ”I wanted to understand what the future with artificial intelligence could look like and how one should approach it and adapt to it as an expert,” Tero describes.
During the work, Tero interviewed Graniitti experts, collected staff views and facilitated a co-development workshop. A total of 25 Graniitti people participated in different phases of the work through interviews, surveys or workshops.
According to Tero, one of the most important findings of the work was that the introduction of artificial intelligence in an expert organization is strongly related to operating methods, leadership, and how the organization learns together.
“Involving experts helped us understand different attitudes and needs regarding the use of artificial intelligence. Several experts said that the interview made them think about artificial intelligence from the perspective of their own role and projects, both in the short and long term,” says Tero.
Tero was particularly impressed by the co-development workshop. The workshop reviewed observations that emerged during the development project and worked on proposals for developing Graniitti's artificial intelligence capabilities.
“The workshop had ambitious goals and a tight schedule. Each group succeeded in their task, and the groups' proposals were concrete and almost ready to be used immediately. That made a big impression on me,” says Tero.
In an expert organization like Graniitti, the utilization of AI is strongly built through the experts' own work. According to Tero, common operating methods and information sharing must be developed so that they support how experts use AI in their own work.
The thesis summarized the current state of Graniti's AI development and made it visible in which direction the work should be taken next. Based on it, a model was created that helps utilize artificial intelligence in a practical way and in a way that suits Graniti's needs.
According to Tero, the benefits of the work will become apparent over time, because AI capabilities are built through continuous learning.
“I believe that the work helped Graniitti understand the experts' starting point in using artificial intelligence, current usage patterns, and how expertise can be developed within the organization. From a client work perspective, this means better information retrieval and analysis capabilities, more efficient preparation, and a more systematic way of identifying where artificial intelligence brings added value to the client,” says Tero.
For Graniit, the work has provided a clearer foundation for shared policies, operating methods and competence development. By developing our own AI capabilities purposefully, we are better able to support our customers in situations where the potential of artificial intelligence is assessed as part of business development and demanding projects.
Tero describes the whole process as demanding but rewarding. The development project progressed as planned and the evaluation of the work also indicated a successful outcome, as the work received a grade of 5/5.
“We completed the development project according to plan and schedule. The lessons learned during the process were valuable in themselves, and the end result of the development work met the goals set at the beginning of the project. Overall, I had a positive feeling about the project and the thesis,” says Tero.
Warm thanks to Tero for the smooth and thought-provoking collaboration. Thanks also to the Finnish Technology Industries Centennial Foundation for making this work possible.
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