Tapping the Value of Generative AI without the Risks: How Capabara Empowers SMEs to Thrive

By Kevin Shepherdson, CEO of Straits Interactive

With generative AI extending its reach into almost every industry in a relatively short space of time, enterprises are now keen to explore how they can incorporate generative AI into their workflows to enhance productivity. However, the road to adopting this new technology is laden with concerns, ranging from privacy, security, and ethical risks that overshadow potential benefits to the fear of job displacement among employees. Given that most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) run on limited resources, adopting generative AI within the organisation might appear to be a risk they are not ready to take on yet, despite the clear evidence of increased productivity the technology brings.

Addressing these apprehensions head-on at our press preview last week, we unveiled the Capabara Capability-as-a-Service (CaaS) Suite. This is a comprehensive productivity platform we created to democratise generative AI for SMEs, bringing a secure and secure way to harness the benefits and minimising the risks. 

The Pain Points of SMEs in Generative AI Adoption

Many SMEs today are using free versions of ChatGPT and other generative AI apps from start-ups, unaware that by doing so, they are sharing personal and company confidential information with external servers and parties which can easily access these data, especially uploaded documents. In addition, their chat inputs could be used to train the machine learning models of these AI tools. To aggravate matters, many of these companies don’t have a policy in place to govern the use of generative AI.

The Need for Capabara

Through our research arm, the Data Protection Excellence (DPEX) Centre, we conducted a study on popular AI applications which revealed that most fall short of GDPR and AI transparency standards. Of the 113 popular desktop apps sampled, while 63% cited the GDPR, only 32% were apparently within the GDPR’s purview. And of this 32%, a mere 48% were compliant. In another study, "Clone Apps" leveraging OpenAI's GPT application programming interfaces (APIs) on the Google Play Store were found to have significant discrepancies between declared data safety practices and the actual behaviour of these apps. These are sobering statistics that inject urgency into the task ahead of SMEs in enacting governance over the use of AI in their workplaces. Yet, there is great difficulty in undertaking such a task without enough resources in a fast-evolving world of generative AI. 

Findings from a study conducted with the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) on the implementation of AI governance policies in SMEs

The fear of job displacement further complicates the adoption process, as employees have yet to fully grasp the notion of generative AI as a collaborator rather than a job replacer. Recent developments from OpenAI with the announcement of GPTs has unlocked a new wave of functionalities that have wiped out existing startups and applications. Feeding into the narrative that generative AI is replacing livelihoods with automations. 

Capabara: A Comprehensive Solution in a Three-pronged Approach

In response to these challenges, we at Straits Interactive introduced the Capabara CaaS suite, providing a comprehensive solution to SMEs. With a focus on security, ethical use, and empowerment, Capabara aims to simplify workflows within the organisation through three components:

The AI Assistant: Develop Digital Capabilities and Streamline Workflows

The Capabara AI Assistant stands out as a secure, robust GPT-powered chatbot, enabling enterprises to not only access a library of pre-built AI capability workflow tools but also create custom AI chatbots tailored to their unique needs. With each organisation assigned to a secure environment, SMEs are empowered to enhance productivity and efficiency in different workflows across their operations.

The Knowledge System: Govern your organisation’s data and ensure operational compliance

The Capabara Knowledge System incorporates the industry’s first AI DPO Assistant, bringing a new way of enacting AI-driven data governance. Leveraging Straits Interactive's exhaustive bank of research encompassing data protection regulations, enforcement cases, and advisory insights, and an SME Grant Explorer AI Tool, the Knowledge System aims to simplify the time-consuming task of information gathering within the organisation.

Anchored on the robust technology stack of Microsoft Azure OpenAI's Large Language Model (LLM), developed in collaboration with Rackspace, it serves as a self-help tool, providing suggestions for operational queries, information on regulatory mandates, and streamlining data governance processes. Further, by incorporating a repository of SME funding options available in Singapore, the Knowledge System assists SMEs in their digital transformation in the form of the SME Grant Explorer. It is now possible for SMEs to easily query and explore such complex information via conversational AI. Guaranteed with a secure environment, businesses can confidently upload internal documents, engage with them, and derive insights. 

The Capability Management System: Manage your organisation’s digital transformation capabilities and objectives

Capabara's Capability Management system transforms AI recommendations into actionable tasks. It is designed to help organisations enhance performance, mitigate risks, and achieve compliance objectives. Users can manage tasks from end-to-end seamlessly to meet organisational goals as well as track the path to your digital transformation objectives with pre-crafted and customisable capability templates, connecting to documents, tasks and events from one place. 

By automating repetitive tasks, Capabara positions itself as a cost-efficient solution, empowering organisations to govern their data effectively and deploy resources with precision.

Importantly, this service is intended to support the Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Data Governance teams, not to supplant them.

Be the First to Embark on Your Digital Transformation with Capabara

The Capabara suite supports organisations in the development, governance, and management of their objectives. It is also envisioned as a platform ecosystem meticulously designed for the AI Business Professional. These professionals, equipped to harness generative AI tools, can create value and integrate AI ethically, responsibly, and effectively within their organisations. Companies interested in exploring the potential of Capabara can sign up as beta users, initiating their journey towards digital transformation. With Capabara, SMEs can tap into the value of generative AI without succumbing to the risks, fostering innovation, and thriving in the digital era.

Capabara will be available by the end of 2023. Stay tuned to our latest announcements on its development by following our CAPABARA Linkedin page or heading over to capabara.com to find out more about how it can empower your organisation. 

This article was first published on our Linkedin Newsletter, The Governance Age, on 27 Nov 2023.