AI Glossary
AI assistant
AI assistant, virtual assistant, AI helper
An AI assistant is an application built on a language model that holds a conversation, answers questions and helps with tasks — often with access to company data or tools through tool use.
- It works in dialogue mode and responds to the user's instructions.
- It can draw on data and tools once we connect them.
- Unlike an agent, it usually doesn't operate fully on its own.
An AI assistant is a conversational layer placed on top of a language model: the user writes an instruction, the assistant replies, and when needed it reaches for company data or calls tools. Connecting your own documents (for example, through search over your data) means it answers in the context of your organization, not just the model's general knowledge.
The line between an assistant and an agent is blurry: an assistant does what we ask it to in the moment, while an agent drives a task to its goal on its own. Quality depends on what data and permissions we give it.
Related terms
In guides
Related articles