Architecting the AI-Enabled Enterprise

Better Shelter Build Brain is a new, multilingual AI assistant that translates 300-page technical manuals into fast, operationally formatted answers for field teams. By focusing on a minimum viable workflow with clear guardrails and an escalation mechanism, the project aims to reduce recurring support load and make critical expertise accessible when and where it is needed most.

I’m not a coder. I’ve spent 12+ years building operations across Africa, India, and Europe — connecting dots, designing systems, making things work in contexts that rarely come with a manual. When AI started making noise, I was curious but overwhelmed. I played with tools, started things, but nothing turned into a finished project. So I did what I always do: I found someone who could teach me properly. That led me to the Applied AI course at exchange.design.

Over the past month, I attended the course Applied AI provided by Exchange Design. In the following paragraphs, I will address two aspects: the insights I gained from attending the course and my experience developing an AI-based solution.

To begin with, I must admit that I joined this course with a degree of skepticism. This was likely the fourth or fifth AI-related course I have attended.

The world of philanthropy can be vast and complex, especially spanning numerous initiatives around the globe and with dozens of partners operating in multiple languages. Established in 1944, The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has awarded more than $3.6 billion in grants, and paid out nearly $300 million in grants in 2024 alone.