This article...

Describes the purpose and configuration of AI Search Agents for targeted search results.
Explains how to create custom Search Agents, set up filters, and define agent properties and messages.
Discusses managing Search Agents, including editing, deactivating, deleting, searching, and previewing agent settings.
Guides you through how to add the AI Chat widget to your community, which is necessary to power your AI Search Agents.

AI Search Agents are custom-built "search assistants" that you can enable in your community so that your community users get more focused search results. This focus is the result of you being able to configure your AI Search Agents to target subsets of your community content based on community name, type of content, and/or tags that have been applied to the content.

In order to be able to use AI Search Agents:

a Super Admin in your account must review and accept the AI Terms,
the AI Assistant & AI Search feature has to be enabled,
and at least one AI Chat widget must be placed in your community.

TIP: You can complete the first two actions on the AI Features page in the Admin interface. Learn more in our AI Terms and AI Features Page article.

NOTE: This article assumes that the terms have been accepted and the feature has been enabled:

Access the AI Search Agents page

The AI Search Agents page is where you manage all aspects of your community's unique AI Search Agents.

To access your AI Search Agents:

In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.

Navigate to AI Features > AI Search Agents.

The out-of-the-box search agent, Standard Search Agent, already populates the AI Search Agents list page.

Standard Search Agent is a system search agent and, as such:

it cannot be deactivated.
it cannot be edited.
it cannot be deleted; this ensures that there is always at least one search agent in your account from which you can create others.
it can be the basis for custom agents that you create and which can be edited (customized).

Manage the display

The AI Search Agents list page has a row for each search agent and several default columns. You can manage what data display on the page and how.

Click the "entries" dropdown below the list to set how many agents display per page.
Click the column count below the list to add and remove columns in the current view.
Click the page navigation in the bottom right to access additional list pages, if there are any.
Click the following column headers to sort the list on that column; click the header again to reverse the sort order. An arrow icon (↑ or ↓) in a header indicates that column is sorted on and the sort order.

Agent
Agent Code
Type
Weight
Updated On
Last Updated By

Let's look at how to create a search agent and then how to manage your agents on the list page.

Create a Search Agent

Click the plus sign icon to the right of the page title to open the Create Agent overlay dialog.
Click the Base Agent dropdown and select an existing agent from which to build your new AI agent, and click Next.

NOTE: If you have selected an agent in the list (the row is shaded) and you click Create, that agent prepopulates the Base Agent field; you can select a different base agent from the dropdown.

On the Create/Edit dialog, configure the following settings to create your agent.

Setting	Description
Agent Name	Specify an "internal identifier" for this custom agent. Search Agent names can contain numerals and special characters.
Display Name	Specify a "friendly" name (e.g., Community Search Assistant) that displays to members in the community. Display names can contain numerals and special characters.
Avatar	Accept the default (Default) which is the "sparkle" icon or choose Custom Image and then Select Image to open the file uploader to add your own image from one of a variety of sources. NOTE: The color of the "sparkle" icon is determined by the site's Primary Color (set in Theme Editor). You can override the "location" and/or the "color" of the icon via the Override CSS in Theme Editor.
Recipe Code	This is a Higher Logic-only field.
Initial Message	Accept the default text or specify a "welcome" message that displays to members when they encounter this agent in the community. The maximum is 280 characters. TIP: If you accept the default text, consider changing "I'm your AI Assistant" to the Display Name you've specified.
Additional Instructions	You can append additional instructions to the system agent's prompt (i.e., effectively saying "...and do these things as well."). NOTE: Your instructions could alter the context or accuracy of the responses provided, so be sure that supplementary prompts align with your intended search.
Agent Description (optional)	Provide information that makes clear to community users the purpose of this agent. This is especially useful if you're running multiple Search Agents in the community.
Weight	The Weight option lets you tell AI Search Agents how much trust or priority to give different types of sources when generating answers. In general, higher-weighted sources are treated as more reliable and are more likely to influence the response, while lower-weighted sources still contribute but carry less authority. This allows your organization to guide the AI toward the content you consider most dependable, such as official, published, or otherwise authoritative materials, instead of giving equal importance to every source in the community. Let's review each weight option: Other - The catch-all / lowest-weight bucket for general community content (i.e., content your regular users are contributing). Expert - Content that comes from a recognized subject-matter expert, but is still primarily person-based expertise rather than institutional/canonical content. Official - Content authored by your staff/organization. Published Source - Content that is formally published and structured, such as journals, standards pages, partner-site resources, or other published reference material. Authoritative - The highest-confidence / highest-priority bucket: the source the AI should prioritize and treat as the most reliable answer base.
Filters	You can apply one or more filters as "data limiters" for the agent; filters limit which data the agent can access. Refer to Filters, below, to learn how to use filters with a Search Agent.

Filters

You can apply filters to a Search Agent in order to limit which data it can access.

NOTE: Filtering is inclusive. This means, for example, that the communities you select in the Communities filter are the only communities that the agent can search in. If you do not select a community in the Communities filter, the agent can search in all of your communities.

Choose the (Current Community) option to have the agent restrict its search to only the content in the community in which the widget is embedded.

You can filter by one or more Locations and/or Content Types and/or Tags. Configure the agent with whatever combination of filters you want.

Multiple filters explained and examples

Before setting filters for AI Search Agent, it's a good idea to understand how they are going to work when a community user does a search.

In the following examples, assume the user is searching on the phrase "super forum sessions".

Multiple selections in one field of a filter

Filter: Location
- Field: Communities = Community-A and Community-B
Result: AI Search Agent will look for "super forum sessions" in Community-A and Community-B only.

Multiple selections in multiple fields of a filter

Filter: Location
- Field: Communities = Community-A and Community-B
- Field: Microsites = Microsite-1
Result: AI Search Agent will look for "super forum sessions" in Community-A and Community-B and Microsite-1.

Multiple selections in multiple filters

Filter: Location
- Field: Communities = Community-A and Community-B
- Field: Microsites = Microsite-1
Filter: Content
- Field: Content Types = Discussion Posts
Result: AI Search Agent will look for "super forum sessions" in all discussion posts only (not blogs, announcements, events, etc.) in Community-A and Community-B and Microsite-1.

Location

Click into the fields to choose one or more Microsites, Communities, and/or Standalone Libraries.

Content

Click into these fields to choose one or more Content Types and/or External Content Types.

Manage the Search Agents

The AI Search Agents list page has several management options in the upper right with which you can manage your Search Agents. You have to select an agent in order to enable the management buttons.

When you select an agent, it's dedicated Preview Panel flies in on the right side of the page.

To manage an agent, click its row to select it, then click:

Deactivate - to deactivate the agent. A confirmation message at the top of the page indicates that any affected widgets will now use the default agent.
- The checkmark is removed from the Active column and the button updates to Activate whenever this agent is selected.
- When you activate an agent, a confirmation message displays at the top of the page.

NOTE: A re-activated agent that had been deactivated does not reclaim its prior widgets.

Edit - to open the Create/Edit overlay dialog.
- You can change any of the agent's properties (refer to the table in the Create a Search Agent section) and any of the filters (refer to Filters, above).
Delete - to delete the agent.

IMPORTANT: Deleting a Search Agent is an irrevocable action. After confirming the deletion, you cannot "undelete" the agent. Deactivate might be the better option.

Review the "default agent" information on the confirmation prompt; click Delete to continue.
A confirmation message at the top of the page confirms the deletion.

Search field

You can use the search feature to quickly locate a Search Agent or several Search Agents that have something in common.

Click the magnifying glass icon to expand the search field.
The search queries the Agent and Display Name columns.
Type letters, numerals, and/or special characters in the field; the search is initiated on the first typed character.
The list automatically updates with each typed character and displays all records that contain a match. The results become more refined with additional characters.
Click the X to clear the search field and restore the original list.

Preview Panel

When you select a Search Agent on the list, the Preview Panel "flies" in on the right side of the browser; it displays information that is unique to the selected agent.

The Preview Panel is an easier way to review the agent's settings and properties than editing the agent to review them on the Create/Edit dialog.
The panel displays the same information as the list columns.
The panel also conveniently displays other information, such as which filters are applied (as opposed to just indicating Filtered in the list) and the content in the Initial Message, Additional Instructions, and Agent Description fields.
Click a different agent's row to open its Preview Panel.
Click a selected row again, or the X, to close the Preview Panel.

Add an AI Chat widget

The AI Chat widget is what powers your AI Search Agents that you learned how to create and manage earlier in this article. You must place at least one AI Chat widget in your community in order to make this feature available to your users, but you can add this widget to any page in your community where you want this AI-powered search available.

TIP: You can leverage a different AI Search Agent in each widget to give specific areas of your community tailored search experiences.

The AI Chat widget differs from the other AI-based features in your community in a few ways.

It can be placed on any community page.
It has a generic, customizable intro/welcome message.
It can search external sources.
Its search can be more focused (e.g., community location, types of content) because it runs on one of your custom AI Search Agents.

Dependence and visibility

Review the following important consideration for this widget.

This widget is dependent on the AI Assistant & AI Search feature.
- If that feature is not enabled, this widget will not display in the community, despite being available in Page Designer.
This widget displays only to those users who have permission, based on the "View Permissions" setting.

Let's look at how to access Page Designer in order to add this widget to a page and select a Search Agent.

Widget placement and column width

Before you add the AI Chat widget to a page, consider the width of the column in which it'll reside because that will affect how the chat displays.

In the image below, two instances of the widget have been added to two columns of varying widths.

TIP: There is no "right" or "wrong" or "preferred" column width for placing the widget. Add the widget to a page and then review how it displays; you can then adjust it for your community and the page layout.

Access Page Designer

Navigate to the community page to which you want to add the widget.
In the Admin Toolbar, click (or right click for a new tab) Edit Page to access Page Designer.

Add the widget and select a Search Agent

In the panel on the right, click the Build tab and expand the Widget section.
In the search field, type "ai" to limit which widgets display.

Click and hold the AI Chat widget and drag it to the page design canvas; drop it where you want the widget to display on the page.

Click the widget placeholder on the design canvas to select it, and click the pencil icon to configure it.

Click the AI Agent dropdown and select an agent (e.g., ContentFinder) as the "brains" for the widget; click Save.
Optionally, click the Properties tab of the widget to manage its properties (such as changing its name [to AI Chatbot] as shown below).

In the lower right of Page Designer, click the Save button and then the Publish button.

TIP: You can refrain from publishing if you want; the widget will not display until the page edits are published.

Page Designer automatically closes and returns you to the current page in the community; verify that the widget displays and functions as expected.

Learn about the available AI features and how to enable them in AI Terms and AI Features Page.
If you're interested in Higher Logic's approach to AI technology within its products, see AI Usage at Higher Logic.
AI Features in your Community describes the AI features, some of which are brand new and some of which are enhancements to features and functionality that you might already be familiar with.
AI-Powered Transcriptions gives Admins the ability to have AI transcribe the words that are spoken in audio and video files, and then display the text that is generated as a transcript and as captions.
See AI Suggested Tags to learn how AI can suggest content tags to categorize your community's content and make it easier to find.
Bulk Upload with AI Generation describes the AI-enhanced Bulk Upload feature, which you can use to simultaneously upload multiple files as new Library Entries.
Learn how to set AI-related privacy settings to apply the data-retention preferences in AI Privacy Settings.

Create and Manage AI Search Agents