AI assistant
A chat tool like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot that answers questions and completes tasks for you.
In plain English
Assistants are where a growing share of research now starts. Some can browse the web, compare options and even book or buy on the user’s behalf, so being easy for them to understand is becoming part of being easy to hire.
In practice
A busy parent asks their assistant to “find a pediatric dentist near us with Saturday hours and book the earliest slot.”
Related terms
AI search basicsStarter Answer engine Any tool that replies with a written answer instead of a list of links, like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini. In practice, and related terms → AI search basicsStarter AI search Finding information by asking an AI tool, which writes an answer, instead of scanning a list of links. In practice, and related terms → How AI reads the webPro Grounding When an AI checks live sources before answering, instead of relying only on what it learned in training. In practice, and related terms →