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When RAG Is Not Enough: Building a Reliable AI Chatbot for Technical Writers

  • Presentation
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Technical Communication
  • 12. November
  • 02:00 PM (CET) - 02:45 PM (CET)
  • C6.2
  • Lars Kothes

    Lars Kothes

    • kothes GmbH

Contents

Technical writers often need to search large collections of source documents to find precise, complete and reliable information for manuals, service content and other technical documentation. At kothes, we developed an internal AI chatbot based on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to support this research process. The system receives user questions, searches a document pool for relevant information and prepares answers in a chat interface.

However, we quickly learned that standard RAG approaches are not sufficient for the high requirements of technical communication: answers must be accurate, traceable and complete. In this talk, we share our journey from the first prototype to a more robust solution. We explain the editorial challenges, the technological hurdles, the research-based methods we investigated, and what the chatbot can do today.

Takeaways

Attendees learn why basic RAG is often not enough for technical writing and how retrieval quality, answer precision and completeness can be improved in practice.

Prior knowledge

Basic knowledge of AI and RAG is helpful, but not required.

 

Speaker

Lars Kothes

Lars Kothes

  • kothes GmbH
Biography

Nach dem Maschinenbaustudium arbeitete Lars Kothes vier Jahre bei einem Dienstleister für Technische Dokumentation. Im Dezember 2003 gründete er kothes. Heute ist er Geschäftsführer der kothes GmbH und leitet zusätzlich das Team Service Development and Innovation. In dieser Rolle entwickelt er mit seinem Team Dienstleistungen weiter, treibt Innovationen voran und beschäftigt sich intensiv mit der Zukunftsfähigkeit Technischer Kommunikation – insbesondere mit Smart Information, digitalen Prozessen und dem Einsatz von KI.

After studying mechanical engineering, Lars Kothes worked for four years at a service provider for technical documentation. In December 2003, he founded kothes. Today, he is managing director of kothes GmbH and also heads the Service Development and Innovation team. In this role, he and his team further develop services, drive innovation and focus on the future viability of technical communication – especially with regard to smart information, digital processes and the use of AI.

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