AI, LLMs & RAG - When to (not) Use

Are you a change leader who wants to know how to bring company knowledge into LLMs and understand the real-world use cases of AI, LLMs, and RAG?
Are you a developer, product lead, or technical decision-maker who wants to distinguish between fleeting AI trends and the engineering architectures that will actually power your business tomorrow?
Join us at the Zug Tech Circle to understand what actually works for real-world applications.

Session 1: Bridging the AI Data Gap
Large Language Models are incredibly capable, but they don't know your business. How to bridge the gap between their pre-trained reasoning and your private company data.

In this session, we will cover:
Why LLMs alone are not enough for your business
Few ways to influence a LLM
The restricted path an AI must use to get real-time facts
How to find and deliver the right company data exactly when it is needed
Speaker:
Markus Hofer, MSc ETH, EMBA HSG
Principal AI & IT Solutions Architect
Smart Solutions AG

Session 2: RAG is Dead, Long Live RAG
Is RAG actually dying, or is it just misunderstood?
In this session, we will cover:
Why people are saying RAG is dead, and which parts are actually true.
Why RAG is still the most reliable way to connect AI to your private business data.
When to use RAG, when to avoid it, why it is the future gateway to knowledge and how to build systems that scale.
Actionable insights you can apply to your own code immediately.
Speaker:
Dimitar Dimitrov
AI Tech Lead
EY Zürich
Dimitar is a software engineer who stress-tests trends, helping leaders separate temporary hype from production-ready architectures that drive true value.
Who will benefit most?
Engineering Leads & Developers who are tired of chasing every "new" framework and looking for a reliable, long-term strategy for data retrieval.
Business/Product Managers & Change Leaders who need to cut through the marketing fluff to understand the true limitations and capabilities of their AI roadmap.
Technical Decision-Makers who are responsible for integrating AI into existing business workflows who need to separate engineering reality from hype.
Schedule:
08:15 – Doors open to the public
08:30–08:40 – Welcome & introduction
08:40–08:55 – Session 1:  Session 1: Bridging the AI Data Gap (Markus)
08:55–09:25 – Session 2: RAG is Dead, Long Live RAG (Dimitar)
09:25–09:40 – Q&A, Discussions
09:40–10:30 – Networking
10:30 – Wrap-up & close
This is the 4th event of the AI Readiness, Technology & Governance Briefing series designed and curated by
Christine Szczepanski Founder, Zug Tech Circle AI Strategist and Business Architect, Hachi Connect GmbH
Christine has led multi-year, multi-million enterprise projects in the last 20 years. With her passion to help digital transformation including AI and cloud initiatives succeed, she created this mini series as a way to help upskilling and give back to the community in Canton Zug and nearby. Please contact her directly to discuss future collaboration, christine@techcircle.ch.
Please note that seats are limited to allow quality discussions.