Episode 006: PAL Power - How the Paul Ramsay Foundation Built an AI Agent to Search, Analyse & Create with Confidence

In this episode of the ADAverse podcast, Shaun Leisegang is joined by Paul Akkari, IT Manager at the Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF), to explore what happens when a purpose-driven foundation builds its own private AI assistant - from the ground up.

Meet PRF PAL, a GPT-powered AI agent designed to unlock knowledge trapped in documents, systems, and minds. Custom-trained on PRF’s own data and grounded in trust and transparency, PAL is more than a search tool - it’s a colleague that helps staff find answers, analyse grant data, summarise reports, and even perform research.

We unpack the full journey - from the original challenge and “aha” moments during development, to the core tools PAL uses:

🔍 Document Search with RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)

📊 Natural Language Grant Queries

🌐 Trusted Web Search with source transparency

Learn how PAL is saving staff hours of admin time, reducing reliance on external consultants, and empowering frontline teams to work smarter. Paul also shares how PRF is using AI in a human-first way - building trust, encouraging adoption, and creating a blueprint for an AI agent ecosystem that aligns with PRF’s mission and values.

💥 Bonus: Stick around for the ADAverse Hot Seat to hear Paul’s take on competitive basketball, robots, and how he wants to be remembered.

🎯 Perfect for nonprofit leaders, CIOs, IT managers, and anyone exploring custom AI agents for knowledge management and impact.