Steven Kight – Engineer, AI Development

Coffee or Tea?  I usually go for coffee—a café latte from the machines in the office.

What did you want to be when you were younger? I originally wanted to become a doctor, but that changed during high school. I discovered a much stronger interest in engineering, physics, and mathematics—partly influenced by my mom, who is a math professor. Two teachers, Mr. Hansen and Ms. Brown, also really sparked my interest. Through small engineering projects, I discovered coding and that quickly became my focus. I have a degree in Computer Science with a focus in Data Science and a minor in Mathematics.

When did you start working seriously with coding? It started with small projects like Arduinos (an open source electronics platform) and simple hardware experiments, but around 2019–2020 I began exploring artificial intelligence more deeply. I taught myself the fundamentals of AI and built my first chatbot, before tools like ChatGPT existed. It was a multimodal AI system that combined a chatbot with facial and voice recognition. The idea was to create a personalized student assistant that could recognize users and help them with schedules, classes, and assignments.

Was the project ever launched? We presented it at conferences but didn’t launch it as a product. It required more computing power and investment than we had at the time. Still, it was a defining experience and shaped my career.

What did you do after your studies? I continued building my experience through internships and traineeships in tech, where I applied my skills in real-world environments and kept developing as an AI engineer. I started at Aptean as an Associate Automation Engineer in August 2024.

Walk me through your week: what does your typical day look like? I work closely with the CEO on building smart workspaces that make people’s daily work easier and more efficient. My role involves spending time with different teams—sitting alongside them, observing how they work, and identifying opportunities to improve their experience. For example, while working with the Customer Advocacy team, I saw how much time was spent on repetitive tasks, like managing requests that require multiple steps and approvals. Those moments are exactly where technology can make a real difference. I translate these insights into practical solutions by designing AI agents in Intelligent Studio. The goal is to create tools that feel natural to use and reduce repetitive work. I then collaborate closely with our engineering team to bring these solutions into real workflows. Before focusing on smart workspaces, I worked on Agent Central, where I helped build an intuitive interface that makes interacting with AI agents simple and accessible.

What makes Aptean special to work for?  One of the best things about working here are the growth opportunities. My own journey shows how fast you can progress—starting as an Associate Automation Engineer, moving to an AI Engineer role, and now working directly with the CEO. The fast-paced environment allows you to explore different teams, discover where you fit best, and take on new challenges. It’s exciting to be in a place where you can grow quickly while finding the work that suits you most.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in this role so far? At Aptean, we embrace AI more than many other companies, and we don’t just use it—we innovate around it. For example, we’ve built tools with Polaris, Intelligent Studio, and Agent Central. I’ve learned that it’s not just about using AI but also designing our own use cases and making it our own.

How is AI being used at Aptean and what do you see for the future? Right now, AI helps automate managerial and administrative tasks internally. On the development side, it speeds up feature iteration and problem-solving. For customers, it powers tools that make their work easier. Looking ahead, AI will keep growing, becoming more specialized and tailored to the industries we serve. When used correctly, it’s a very helpful tool.

Which company value matters most to you, and why? For me, Be Agile is the most important value. With so many changes happening right now—especially in AI and across the industry—being able to adapt, learn quickly, and embrace new opportunities is essential.

Any hidden talents? I’ve been practicing marksmanship for about 10 years, including clay shooting and archery. I grew up in rural North Georgia, practicing in the woods, and later went to shooting ranges.

So you have a good eye for detail? Yeah, exactly. I like to think I’m a bit of both—detail-oriented and big picture—but I lean toward the details. I really enjoy diving into the programming side and understanding the ins and outs of how AI works.

What’s the success you’re most proud of during your time at Aptean? That would be developing Agent Central. I worked on Version One, and we just released Version Two, now integrated into AppCentral and connected to Intelligent Studio agents. This allows us to build and iterate on agents faster, with a much-improved user interface.

The work involves taking pre-trained models like ChatGPT Claude, adding prompts for context, and giving them tools to interact with external systems like Teams, Outlook, or customer ERPs. The hardest part is getting the prompts just right—sometimes a single character can change the agent’s behavior entirely. For example, in V1, one misplaced exclamation mark made an agent start apologizing constantly, which took us a long time to debug.

Testing is done in Intelligent Studio’s playground mode, where we can see how the agents perform and use their tools. Each agent is highly specialized—they excel at their tasks, but they don’t handle general tasks the way ChatGPT or Claude does. That precision, combined with programming detail, is what makes the work both challenging and rewarding.

Do you have any routines or music that help you focus at work? When I’m not in meetings, I usually listen to music while building agents or working on systems. I’m a big music fan and enjoy a wide variety—from country to hip hop and rap.

Clear or cluttered desk? I like to keep my desk clear and organized.

And finally... If you could give one piece of advice to the next generation stepping into this role, what would it be?  Be open to learning new things. The ability to step into a role and adapt, without getting stuck in your ways, is invaluable. Approaching challenges with an open mind has been the biggest lesson for me.