This week in the Practitioner spotlight, we’re highlighting Anders Arpteg, Head of AI & Data at Saab Group.
An AI enthusiast and, as he says, “computer nerd”, with over 25 years in the field, Anders holds a PhD in AI and brings a wealth of experience from tech giants like Spotify and the Swedish Security Service.
At Saab, he is accelerating the vision of keeping society safe by scaling AI across everything from JAS Gripen fighter planes to advanced submarines-a mission increasingly vital in today’s geopolitical climate.
While he is passionate about the tech behind AI, Anders’ true focus is on efficiently scaling real value for the good of society. As a veteran co-host of the AI After Work (AIAW) podcast, he has spent over five years dissecting the global AI landscape. In this interview, he shares why the Nordics must transition from being tech-watchers to world-class adopters.
Hyperight.com: What’s the best way to describe your job to someone outside tech?
Anders Arpteg: Scaling value from AI & Data is really about transforming companies, which can be achieved across many dimensions. Three practical dimensions are people, processes, and products (PPP). My job is to scale value not only in customer products, but also in business processes and for the people working at Saab. Each of these three dimensions requires different types of AI solutions, each helping to scale value from AI & Data throughout the organization. 
Hyperight.com: What originally sparked your interest in AI & data, and what keeps you inspired today?
Anders Arpteg: I built a popular website many many years back, called The Buyer’s Guide. This website was the first automated shopping site in Europe, but maintaining it was rather time-consuming. It extracted information from a large number of sources, but it needed to be automated with something more intelligent than hardcoded rules. This is why I got started with my PhD and research in AI, to maintain services like this efficiently. Since then, I have always been fascinated with the possibilities of AI, and with the extreme technological progress in recent years, we are truly living in interesting times.
Hyperight.com: What is one challenge you’re trying to solve, and why does it matter?
Anders Arpteg: One of the most common pitfalls with AI is the “prototype graveyard,” where companies repeatedly fail to create real value from it. Few companies understand what it really means to build with speed, avoid building prototypes, and plan to put solutions into production from day one. Building quickly is something hyperscalers do well, but most other companies fail at. One company that does this exceptionally well is Tesla, and I have been studying its way of working closely. Although I have worked at companies like Spotify, I was shocked when I realized how Tesla operates, and I wish more people understood the extreme speed they can achieve.
Hyperight.com: A tool you can’t live without (tech or not)?
Anders Arpteg: I am a frequent YouTube user, not for music but for podcasts and learning purposes. Together with Hyperight, I have been co-hosting the AI After Work podcast for over five years now, which has been both very fun and very educational. Being able to talk to leaders and experts in a long-format podcast every week for five years is highly educational and enjoyable. To prepare for these podcasts and for continuous learning in general, YouTube is certainly a handy tool.
Hyperight.com: What trend in data or AI do you think will shape the Nordic region the most?
Anders Arpteg: Although I have a personal dislike of Apple as a company, we could learn from Apple in the Nordics and Europe. The Nordics will not be the frontier AI region, any more than Apple will be a frontier AI company. However, the Nordics could be the best adopters of AI, and that would be truly valuable for us. Technological progress in AI will continue to accelerate, especially in the US and China, but AI adoption will also continue to lag behind. The winners will be the companies and countries that succeed in AI adoption and reap its benefits without having to invest the extreme amounts of money currently being spent on winning the AI race.
Hyperight.com: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to others entering the data and AI field?
Anders Arpteg: Realize that scaling AI & data values is very difficult, avoid the prototype graveyard, and invest in learning how to adopt AI properly. This challenge should be a focus of education for any university, organization, and country. Study how hyperscalers and companies like Tesla operate, learn from them, and execute.
AI is already disrupting the world, but as we move closer to AGI, ensure you and your company are using AI for what works today but preparing for what will work tomorrow. I am very excited about an AGI future, but I am scared of what will happen before we have AI that can supervise other AI systems. I am afraid of what could happen if/when humans abuse the power of AI. This is also why I am very grateful to be working at Saab today. Saab is undoubtedly the best place to be if you want to work with the latest tech and focus on using AI to keep people and society safe.
