Our AI journey: from adoption to integration

In November 2022, ChatGPT launched and changed the technology landscape. Like many forward-thinking organisations, we recognised this shift and began adapting our approach to incorporate AI capabilities into our work. This timeline tracks our path from initial experiments to strategic integration.

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Early recognition and strategic planning

By December 2022, just one month after ChatGPT’s public release, we started incorporating AI into our 2023 strategy. We recognised that AI, no-code solutions, and AI-assisted development could improve development speed by approximately 20%, potentially reaching 2.5x efficiency with proper implementation. This insight led us to a clear directive: “We must adopt these practices early and adjust our rates accordingly.” - Rafael Jegundo (Board Director).

Rather than treating AI as a distant future concern, we moved quickly to build organisational infrastructure:

• March 2023: Established our AI-guild Slack channel
• April 2023: Created a private instance on Vercel to test LLM models and set up our first self-hosted AI model
• August 2023: Launched our first generative AI project and held our first AI-focused internal discussion

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From experimentation to core capability

By September 2023, what began as exploration had evolved into a strategic necessity. We formalised our approach: “Our strategy must shift to incorporate AI as a core capability, not just to survive but to deliver exceptional value through enhanced productivity and innovation.”

Several key developments marked this transition from experimentation to integration:

• October 2023: Established our first OKR focused specifically on internal AI adoption
• November 2023: Implemented tracking of AI use through 15 five questions to measure adoption
• December 2023: Created “Special Projects” for strategic areas, with an emphasis on automating internal operations through AI

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Building internal capacity

Throughout 2024, we moved from adoption to mastery, developing specialised training and capabilities:

• Training on “discovery mode” and “prototype building” mindset with AI
• Website revamp featuring our new AI Engineering Team service
• First AI assistant created on Vercel
• First AI hackathon to accelerate internal skill development

By August 2024, our approach had matured into a clear directive: delivering exceptional AI-enhanced services, using AI tools to accelerate project outcomes, and consistently demonstrating our AI proficiency to differentiate ourselves in the market.

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Leading through transformation

The final months of 2024 marked our transition from AI adopters to AI leaders:

• September 2024: “We need to embrace AI faster than our competitors, particularly in areas where there’s concern about job displacement”
• October 2024: First AI-agent coded feature
• November 2024: Development of our new AI Enablement service

Throughout this journey, we’ve applied our AI expertise to deliver innovative solutions across various domains:

• Race CrewAI: An AI-powered race crew simulator enhancing SimRacing experience through realistic, AI-driven crew interactions
• Contract analysis: Speeding up contract reviews with AI-powered analysis, reducing review time from weeks to hours
• AI powered medical research insights: a tool to help healthcare profissional make better-informed clinical decisions based on the latest evidence.
• Recruitment process enhancement: Revolutionising talent acquisition through AI-powered candidate assessment and matching
• Carbon credits document analysis: Optimising the carbon credits certification process by accelerating document review and analysis
• AI-supported product discovery and delivery: Transitioning to AI-enhanced product discovery and delivery approaches that maintain quality while increasing speed

Our 2025 strategy acknowledges AI’s growing importance, noting that AI capability now affects 40% of deals. As the market evolves, we’ve positioned ourselves to help organisations successfully implement AI, a perfect alignment with our capabilities as the landscape grows increasingly complex.

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Lessons from our journey

Our experience with AI integration offers several insights for organisations on similar paths:

• Early adoption creates competitive advantage: We developed capabilities ahead of the market by starting our AI journey before it became mainstream.
• Balance experimentation with implementation: We moved beyond theoretical exploration to practical application through projects like Carbon Credits Document analysis.
• Make AI a fundamental expectation: As Shopify’s CEO Tobi Lütke noted, “Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone… Stagnation is almost certain, and stagnation is slow-motion failure. If you’re not climbing, you’re sliding.”
• Measure what matters: Similar to Shopify’s approach, implementing tracking of AI use helped us monitor adoption and impact throughout our organisation.
• Focus on prototype acceleration: We learned, as Shopify emphasised, that “AI dramatically accelerates the prototyping process”, allowing teams to create something others can evaluate “in a fraction of the time it used to take.”
• Build collective knowledge: We implemented structured knowledge sharing about AI tools and capabilities, creating forums for team members to exchange techniques and learnings, mirroring Shopify’s approach of “Learning is self-directed, but share what you learned.”

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Your AI transformation partner

While our journey with AI continues to evolve, yours may just be beginning. At Whitesmith, we’ve transformed our internal operations through strategic AI integration—now we’re ready to do the same for you.

We offer specialised services that address the full spectrum of AI adoption:

• AI for Tech Teams: We help engineering leaders implement practical AI solutions that bring fast, measurable improvements to development workflows, code quality, and team productivity. From rapid prototyping to optimising existing codebases, we focus on quick wins and knowledge transfer.
• AI Product Development: We build complete AI products from the ground up and we provide the AI expertise your organisation needs to build and integrate AI-powered features and products.
• AI Enablement: We help you identify and implement high-impact AI use cases within your organisation, guiding you through the entire process from initial research to deployment and maintenance.

Don’t navigate the AI revolution alone. Partner with a team that’s already charted the course and can help you avoid the pitfalls while capturing the opportunities.
Contact us today to accelerate your AI journey with a partner who understands both the technology and the strategic imperative of AI adoption.