Why employees smuggle AI into work

Karoliina Torttila says employees need to show good judgement over AI

Trimble provides software and hardware to manage data about the built environment. To help its employees use AI safely, the company created Trimble Assistant. Its an internal AI tool based on the same AI models that are used in ChatGPT.

Employees can consult Trimble Assistant for a wide range of applications, including product development, customer support and market research. For software developers, the company provides GitHub Copilot.

Karoliina Torttila is director of AI at Trimble. I encourage everybody to go and explore all kinds of tools in their personal life, but recognise that their professional life is a different space and there are some safeguards and considerations there, she says.

The company encourages employees to explore new AI models and applications online.

This brings us to a skill were all forced to develop: We have to be able to understand what is sensitive data, she says.

There are places where you would not put your medical information and you have to be able to make those type of judgement calls [for work data, too].

Employees experience using AI at home and for personal projects can shape company policy as AI tools evolve, she believes.

There needs to be a constant dialogue about what tools serve us the best, she says.