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Custom AI Systems

Custom GenAI Development

Build the AI capability your existing tools cannot provide.

Create an assistant or product feature around your approved knowledge, access rules and acceptance tests. We first check whether an existing tool can meet the need before recommending custom development.

Approved knowledgeSource-linked answersEvaluationControlled actions
Start with one task that existing tools cannot handle reliably.
Is this you?

Does the use case need more than an off-the-shelf AI tool?

Choose the product or knowledge problem that feels familiar.

Illustrative workflow

Generic AI does not understand your business

Use case
Trusted sources
Evaluate
Integrate & monitor
High-impact actions remain behind explicit permissions and human checkpoints.

Ground the system in approved company knowledge, data and workflows.

One business need. A working AI product.

See what one validated use case can become.

Turn a clearly scoped business need into a prototype, connected knowledge flow and evaluated AI feature your team can test safely.

PROTOTYPE

Test the core interaction first.

Build the smallest useful version around the real task before committing to a larger product build.

  • Core user flow
  • Representative inputs
  • Fast feedback
Illustrative example. Final fields, rules and review points are agreed during discovery.

Illustrative only, not a client case study. Final scope and outputs are agreed in the proposal.

What you receive.

Core modules support knowledge-grounded assistants and controlled AI workflows. Predictive, vision, recommendation and anomaly models are related AI capabilities, scoped separately.

Your custom GenAI systemCore: knowledge, retrieval, evaluation and controlled actions. Related AI capabilities are scoped separately.

RAG System Development: A retrieval-based assistant that answers from approved documents and shows supporting sources.

What changes

Grounded. Evaluated. Production-ready.

Build the capability around your data, permissions and real acceptance criteria.

Illustrative operating view
Evaluation reportDeliverable
Concrete deliverableEvaluation report
01Task set
02Acceptance result
03Failure case
Evaluation report

Evaluation report on representative tasks and edge cases

Performance benchmarkDeliverable
LatencyMeasured
Cost per taskVisible
Failure modeReviewed
Performance benchmark

Latency, cost and failure-mode benchmark before release

Readiness checklistDeliverable
Permissions
Monitoring
Rollback
Readiness checklist

Production-readiness checklist for permissions, monitoring and rollback

Choosing the right approach

An existing tool may be enough. Build custom only for a clear gap.

Choose the approach based on the task, data and knowledge access, evaluation requirements, latency and operating-cost constraints.

What mattersExisting AI productCustom AI development
Best fitThe product meets your task and access requirementsA tested need exceeds available product capabilities
EffortConfiguration and product subscriptionDiscovery, engineering, evaluation and maintenance
ControlWithin the provider’s supported settingsProject-specific interfaces, access and evaluation
DecisionUse when it meets acceptance criteriaBuild only when the added value justifies the work

We support documented handover or ongoing support; deployment, data access and maintenance boundaries are set out below.

See a sample first pilot
How we deliver

From a defined capability gap to an evaluated feature.

Responsibilities are explicit from use-case definition through retrieval or model design, evaluation, release controls and monitoring.

  1. 01

    Frame

    Define the task and compare existing-tool options.

    You confirm: the gap that justifies a build.
  2. 02

    Prototype

    Connect approved sources and build the minimum useful capability.

    You review: outputs and permission boundaries.
  3. 03

    Evaluate

    Test representative cases, failures, latency and operating costs.

    You approve: acceptance criteria and release readiness.
  4. 04

    Integrate

    Release the scoped feature with monitoring and a handover plan.

    You decide: maintain, improve or expand.

Pilot timing is confirmed after scope, source readiness, access and reviewer availability are known.

Implementation roadmap

Stage 1

Use case & risk

Clear task boundary
What usually goes wrong

Teams start with a model instead of a task and acceptable failure boundary.

What we do

Define the user, task, desired output, prohibited behaviour and business impact.

Deliverable: Use-case and risk specification.
Read the roadmap stage by stage
Use case & risk

Define the user, task, desired output, prohibited behaviour and business impact.

Deliverable: Use-case and risk specification.
Data & knowledge

Identify approved sources, permissions, freshness and data quality issues.

Deliverable: Knowledge and data map.
Architecture

Select the simplest architecture that meets quality, control, latency and cost needs.

Deliverable: Architecture decision record.
Prototype

Build the smallest end-to-end version with realistic inputs and outputs.

Deliverable: Working prototype.
Evaluation

Create test cases, score quality and analyse error categories.

Deliverable: Evaluation set and quality report.
Integrate

Connect identity, systems, UI and human checkpoints.

Deliverable: Integrated pilot.
Production

Monitor quality, latency, cost, failures and content freshness.

Deliverable: Production monitoring and improvement plan.
A focused first pilot

Start with one task and a representative test set.

Agree the use case, trusted sources, evaluation set, permissions and acceptance criteria before building the first GenAI capability.

Bring

A tightly defined business task · Representative examples of inputs and desired outputs · Approved data and knowledge sources

Test

One tightly defined task, representative inputs and a measurable evaluation set.

Measure

Task success rate · Grounded-answer accuracy · Latency

Record the starting point and review the agreed evidence before deciding the next step. Outcomes depend on the scope, inputs and adoption.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call
Production operating model

Know where it runs, what it can access and who maintains it.

These are the delivery options HAY AI can support for a custom GenAI build.

Deployment options

Client-approved cloud or API environments and private deployment patterns where the architecture supports them. We can co-build into an existing engineering stack and connect identity, APIs, databases, vector stores and document repositories.

Data access

The system is connected only to approved knowledge, data and tools. Role-based permissions and existing identity controls can be used where the integration supports them.

Retention & deletion

For components we control, we can configure the retention and deletion controls supported by the selected storage or platform. Third-party model and hosting retention limits are reviewed before use.

Data & output ownership

You retain your source data. For a custom build, project code, configurations, prompts, evaluation assets and documentation can be handed over; third-party licences and model-provider output terms still apply.

Support

We support full documentation and knowledge transfer to your team. HAY AI can also remain involved for monitoring, updates and evidence-led improvement after release.

Maintenance responsibility

Your team owns business policy, source-system access and approval rules. With ongoing support, HAY AI can maintain the application or integration layer we operate, including agreed monitoring and updates; otherwise operation transfers at handover.

Human control

Your team can inspect the evidence before acting.

We define task boundaries, access rules, evaluation criteria and monitoring. Human approval remains in the workflow wherever a decision carries material impact.

Task → Approved sources → Evaluated output → Human decision / permitted action
  • Role-based access to data and tools
  • Evaluation against a representative test set before launch
  • Citations or source traceability where the use case requires it
  • Human approval for high-impact external actions
Practical questions

What we need before prototyping starts.

Who owns the data and project assets?

You retain your source data. For a custom build, project code, configurations, prompts, evaluation assets and documentation can be handed over to your team. Third-party models, libraries and services remain under their own licences, and model-generated output is subject to the selected provider terms.

How do you handle sensitive data?

We connect only approved sources and tools, use role-based or existing identity controls where the integration supports them, and can use private deployment patterns where the architecture permits. Retention and deletion controls are configured in components we control where the selected platform supports them; third-party retention limits are reviewed before use.

Can you work with our existing engineering team?

Yes we regularly co-build with in-house teams and hand over clean, documented systems.

When is an existing AI tool the better choice?

When it meets the task, access and quality requirements with less cost and maintenance. Custom development is justified only by a specific gap that we can test.

What do we need to prepare?

A tightly defined business task · Representative examples of inputs and desired outputs · Approved data and knowledge sources

Does this connect to our existing tools?

We review the current stack during discovery. Typical integration points can include Private APIs, Databases, Vector stores, Document repositories, CRM / ERP, Identity & access. Access, permissions and technical feasibility are confirmed before implementation.

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