AI Pilot in a Government Institution or Research Institute: From Audit to Production
Contents
Many AI projects in institutions end at the stage of a polished demo. The demo works on prepared questions, but quality drops on real documents, the information security team asks questions with no answers, and the project stalls. A properly planned pilot answers all these questions before scaling.
Stage 1. AI Readiness Audit
- what tasks employees want to solve;
- what documents and data are required for this;
- data classification and information security requirements;
- infrastructure and deployment options;
- expected benefit in hours and money.
Result: one or two scenarios for the pilot and requirements for each.
Stage 2. Scenario Selection
A good scenario for a pilot:
- clear benefit: time savings on a specific task;
- a limited document set;
- engaged users ready to test;
- measurable result.
For example: searching the report archive of a single department or answering employee questions based on internal regulations.
Stage 3. Benchmark Set
Together with future users, we compile 50-100 real questions with correct answers and sources. This is the main evaluation tool: it is used to compare models, settings, and system versions.
Stage 4. Pilot System
- uploading documents and building the index;
- one or more models for comparison;
- access permissions and audit logs;
- an interface for the pilot group.
Stage 5. Evaluation
| Metric | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Answer accuracy | percentage of correct answers on benchmark questions |
| Citation accuracy | whether citations point to the correct excerpts |
| Leaks between roles | whether the system returns restricted documents |
| Speed | response time |
| User evaluation | usefulness in actual work |
| Time savings | how much time the scenario saves |
Stage 6. Preparation for Production
- documentation for the information security team;
- infrastructure selection and sizing based on measurement results;
- update and support procedures;
- a plan to expand to other scenarios.
Timelines
The audit takes 1-2 weeks; the pilot usually takes several weeks depending on document volume and approval procedures in the organization.
Frequently asked questions
How many users are needed for a pilot?
Usually 5-20 people who will actually use the system in their work.
Do you need to buy equipment for the pilot?
No, the pilot can be run on rented infrastructure in Kazakhstan or on anonymized data.
What if the pilot does not meet the quality threshold?
That is a result too: you know what needs improvement, or that the scenario is not yet suitable for AI. No scaling budget was spent.
