The temporary shutdown of the AI model “Claude Fable 5” has sparked a discussion about reliance on individual AI providers. According to AI consulting firm Neurawork, this case illustrates that the availability of AI systems can increasingly become an operational risk. Data sovereignty, compliance, and reliability are therefore important prerequisites for the productive use of AI.

“Many companies are currently focused on which AI model is the most powerful. The more important question, however, is: What will happen to my processes if this model is no longer available tomorrow?” says Christoph Knöll, founder and CEO of Neurawork.

Four Steps to an Independent AI Strategy

In response to these challenges, Neurawork has developed the “Operational AI” concept. It is designed to help companies build AI applications that are more independent, more reliable, and more cost-effective.

1. Identify economic bottlenecks

The first step is to identify the most significant economic bottleneck. Instead of starting by selecting an AI model, companies should first analyze which challenges have the greatest impact on revenue, costs, or growth, and then determine where AI can make a difference.

2. Fully understand processes

In the second step, the business process in question is examined in detail and broken down into individual steps. The goal is to assess the actual benefits of AI and identify tasks that can be automated even without large language models.

3. Build Architecture with Confidence

When designing the technical architecture, Neurawork recommends using open technologies, European infrastructures, and specialized systems. Accordingly, powerful language models should only be used where they offer concrete added value.

4. Integrate Governance and Resilience

The fourth step involves incorporating governance requirements. These include, among other things, compliance requirements, data protection, the EU AI Act, the GDPR, and technical fallback options to mitigate the impact of outages by individual AI providers.

“When it comes to AI, most companies think of models first. We recommend starting by thinking about your own processes. If you understand your workflows, you’ll be much less dependent on individual platforms and can use AI more cost-effectively,” said Knöll.

According to Neurawork, companies that integrate AI as part of a resilient and robust corporate architecture will be the ones to gain a competitive advantage in the future.