Prompting

You can ask aiR Assist about indexed documents in natural, conversational language. Follow-up prompts build on earlier ones, and aiR Assist uses the conversation context and any people or events mentioned.

Users must be granted Prompting permission to ask questions and manage their conversations. See Permissions for details on the Prompting permission.

Suggested resources:

• Best practices for prompt-writing tips.
• Frequently asked questions for helpful answers to common questions about prompts and responses.

Considerations

• Prompts and responses are private to each user and persist across the user's sessions. Additionally, they cannot be shared. See Using Conversation Manager more information on managing conversations.
• It is important to note that document security may differ between users. As a result, two users could ask the exact same question and receive different answers because the LLM interaction used for each response only considers the documents that the requesting user is authorized to access. aiR Assist does not retain knowledge from other users' conversations, and every interaction is evaluated against the requesting user's security permissions at the time of the prompt.

Navigating the prompt composer

Refer to the following descriptions below to learn how to use the prompt composer (Ask a question box).

• Ask a question—type your prompt into this box. Prompts must be at least three characters long to submit.
• Index used—name of the index used for the query appears in the lower left corner of the box. Hover over the name to view the saved search source used, number of documents within the index, date/time last indexed and by whom, and description entered when the index was created.
• Use Metadata toggle—if metadata is enabled in your workspace, the Use Metadata toggle displays next to the Index Name. Toggle it on to use metadata for the query or toggle it off to not use it. See Metadata mapping for more information.
• Send message—after typing your question, click the circled up arrow to submit it for a response.

Navigating the responses

Refer to the following descriptions below to learn how to navigate the responses generated by aiR Assist.

1. Prompt asked—the prompt asked displays above the response.
2. Search Completed—click the expand arrow (>) to view a summary that outlines the steps the AI agent took to answer the question.
   
   • It includes the index (data source) used, the number of documents found, the searches it attempted, the number of documents selected after reranking and filtering, the number of documents cited in the answer, and whether it verified that the citations were grounded in the documents.
   • Click the links where available to view specific documents corresponding to that step.
3. Natural language response and citations—the responses to the question based on the retrieved documents, with inline numbered citations to specific document references.
4. # references—click the expand arrow (>) next to the number of references to show or hide the full list of cited referenced documents generated for the response.
   
   • Below the Document Control Number link are the first few pieces of information associated with the reference. Click the down arrow associated with each document to view more information.
   • Click the Document Control Number link to open the document in the Viewer.
5. View in Document List—click to filter the Document List to only show documents that include a reference. Be aware that choosing a specific folder in the Folder Browser might change which references appear in the Document List. To ensure all references are visible, select the root folder level.
6. Index name—the name of the index used for the query displays below the list of references. Hover over the name to view the number of documents within the index, date/time last indexed and by whom, and the description entered when the index was created.
7. Action buttons—click the action buttons to do the following:
   • Copy icon—click to copy the entire response displayed to the clipboard, including citations. See Copying a response for more information.
   • Thumbs up icon—click to indicate a positive reaction to the answer provided. See Feedback controls for responses (thumbs up/thumbs down) for more information.
   • Thumbs down icon—click to indicate a negative reaction to the answer provided. See Feedback controls for responses (thumbs up/thumbs down) for more information.

See Understanding aiR Assist responses for more details on how the system operates on a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture to retrieve and analyze documents for responses.

Submitting prompts

To submit a prompt (question):

1. Click the aiR Assist icon in the side bar to open the aiR Assist chat panel.
2. Type your prompt in the Ask a question box using natural language, as if chatting with a person.
   aiR Assist formats responses for you, but you can include instructions to use headers, tables, bullets, or numbered lists, which is helpful for longer outputs.
   
3. Use the default index that displays in the Ask a Question box or click the index name to select a different one from the Index Manager list and click Set index.
4. If available, enable the Use Metadata toggle to leverage metadata for the prompt or disable it to not use metadata. See Metadata mapping for more information.
   • Users with Prompting permissions enabled can use this toggle. See Permissions for more information.
   • The Use Metadata toggle is only supported for indexes created using aiR Assist. Currently, aiR for Case Strategy Case Home index does not support metadata mapping so the toggle is disabled.
5. Click the Send Message up arrow icon to submit the prompt.
   aiR Assist displays a response that includes a list of references and documents with control numbers.
   We recommend reviewing the accuracy of the answer and its citations. For additional information on responses, see Navigating the responses and Understanding aiR Assist responses.
6. Continue prompting the system using the selected index. If you want to use a different index for querying, click the current index name link, select another one from the index list, and click Set. Then, repeat these steps.

The system maintains chat context within the current sessions for follow-up questions and more natural conversation. For more information on managing conversations, see Using Conversation Manager.

Chat history for all chat sessions:

• are private to each user
• cannot be shared
• persists across each user's Relativity session

Starting a new prompt conversation

You can start a new conversation using the same or different index. The new conversation does not reference previous conversations for its responses.

In the aiR Assist chat panel, click the New conversation pencil and paper icon and begin typing your query in the box.

For more information on managing individual conversations, see Using Conversation Manager.

Copying a response

The Copy action lets you copy the full response, including citations, to your clipboard with formatting intact for use elsewhere.

Conversation history and sessions

aiR Assist maintains a continuous conversation history for each user in the workspace, helping keep responses consistent throughout a session. Each user’s conversation history is private and cannot be shared with or accessed by others in the workspace.

Conversation history is also saved across sessions and retained as long as the workspace exists, unless the conversation is deleted. For details on managing conversations, see Using Conversation Manager.

Follow-up memory is limited to the 10 most recent messages in the current user session. As a conversation gets longer, earlier messages may no longer be referenced once the model reaches its context limit.