THE SITUATION
Why this decision is reaching leadership now
RAG allows an AI service to retrieve organisation-specific information before producing an answer. This can make responses more current, relevant and transparent than relying on a model’s training data alone.
But retrieval does not make weak information dependable. If a repository contains conflicting policies, obsolete files, excessive permissions or unknown ownership, the assistant can surface those problems faster and more convincingly.
THE IMPLICATION
What could happen if the issue remains unresolved?
Confident answers from obsolete material
A polished response can conceal that the underlying source should have been reviewed or deleted.
Permission leakage
An assistant that retrieves beyond the requesting user’s access can expose confidential or personal information.
No correction route
When nobody owns the source material, users may repeatedly encounter the same error without the knowledge base improving.
THE DECISION
What a controlled approach requires
Authority
Identify which repositories and documents are authoritative for the intended use case.
Ownership
Assign responsibility for accuracy, review, retention and correction.
Access
Preserve user-level permissions throughout retrieval and output.
Evaluation
Test retrieval quality, citation correctness, unsupported answers and malicious documents before launch.
QUESTIONS TO TAKE INTO THE ROOM
How confidently could your organisation answer these?
- Which sources should the assistant be allowed to treat as authoritative?
- How much content is duplicated, obsolete, trivial or unowned?
- Will retrieved content respect the user’s existing permissions?
- Can users see and inspect the sources behind an answer?
- Who corrects the source when an answer reveals an information gap?
FROM QUESTION TO EVIDENCE
An informed question is useful. An organisation-specific assessment is more valuable.
ARI assesses data, technology, governance and operating readiness together, helping leaders decide whether to pilot RAG now or repair the information foundation first.