In the last quarter of 2024, the Hubtel AI lab collaborated with Hubtel’s management team to develop “HubtelWay,” a bespoke artificial intelligence platform designed to deliver up-to-date information. HubtelWay is shorthand for Hubtel’s unique organizational culture, policies, and leadership practices. This system is a chatbot aimed at assisting over 700 Hubtel employees. It answers specific questions and addresses their concerns without the need for any human involvement.

The use of in-house chatbots within organizations is steadily gaining popularity. For example, Deloitte recently announced the deployment of an AI chatbot to support employees in audit and assurance tasks. JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have developed chatbots to assist with research analysis and high-end customer financial advice. These advancements reflect a shift in the conversation around artificial intelligence—from building products for external consumers to finding high-value utility within the company for employees.

Esther Crawford, Director of Product at Meta, recently shared this on Threads to celebrate the launch of Metamate, an internal AI chatbot for Meta’s employees: “You’ve never used Metamate if you don’t work at Meta. It’s an AI for employees that’s trained on an enormous corpus of internal company docs. I use it all the time for efficiency gains. Any sizable company operating without an internal AI tool is already behind the curve.”

At Hubtel, we agree! Building custom chatbots for internal knowledge sharing not only supports transparency around policies and regulations but is also a smart way to cut down on Human Resource management costs. Especially for fast-growing companies like Hubtel, having a scalable system that can support an expanding team is crucial.

How HubtelWay AI works

HubtelWay AI operates using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) with OpenAI models to process our internal knowledge base (the ‘corpus’ of documents). The system breaks down company documents into smaller, focused chunks of text. Using an embedding model, these chunks are converted into unique vector embeddings—essentially numerical representations that capture the meaning of each piece of content. These embeddings are then stored in a vector database for efficient retrieval.

When an employee asks a question, HubtelWay AI converts the query into the same vector format. It then finds the most relevant document chunks. These chunks provide context for the Large Language Model (LLM) to generate responses based strictly on Hubtel’s documentation.

Data integrity and privacy are essential in such a system. The system is designed to follow Hubtel’s data policy, which maintains data confidentiality and protects employees’ privacy. Personal data or sensitive employee information is not stored or shared, as the chatbot only accesses anonymized and non-personally identifiable organizational content to provide responses.

Practical Applications and Future Enhancements

Imagine a new team member joining Hubtel. Instead of spending weeks navigating various documents, they can simply ask HubtelWay AI questions like, “What are Hubtel’s core values?” or “How does Hubtel approach teamwork?” This immediate access to cultural knowledge allows them to align with our ways of working from day one.

For current team members, HubtelWay AI offers reliable support for day-to-day decisions. Whether refreshing their understanding of company policies or checking details about our leadership structure, the system provides consistent information across all our locations. This uniformity is essential as we expand across cities.

As we look towards the future, HubtelWay AI may incorporate more personalized features. These may include department-specific knowledge or project-based frequently asked questions (FAQs) to better cater to specialized teams. In addition, we are exploring the integration of real-time updates. This feature would allow the chatbot to reflect any new policy changes instantly. This way, employees will always have access to the most current information.

Embrace the HubtelWay…

We encourage all ‘Hubtelites’ to make HubtelWay AI their first stop for questions about the company. Whether you’re a new team member finding your feet or a seasoned ‘Hubtelite’ exploring new aspects of our organization, HubtelWay AI is your gateway to a deeper understanding of the Hubtel Way—safeguarded by technology that values both efficiency and privacy.