Skip to main content

The Assistant

How to ask the assistant about what people said in a campaign and check its answers against theirs.

Overview​

Assistant in a campaign's Manage group answers questions about that campaign's answers in plain language. It answers only from what people said, says how many answers back each point, and links the answers it draws on, so you can read them yourself.

Everyone with a role can ask it, viewers included.

Asking a question​

The Assistant for Youth Voices 2026, with New conversation at the top. The question What are people most unhappy about? and the reply: the strongest complaints are about the parks after dark and about getting around, in three bold-led points with numbered citations 1 to 8, then 13 of the 33 answers are negative or very negative. Below, The 8 answers it cites is open, listing each cited answer's summary as a link, and Read all 33 answers. The question box and Ask are at the bottom.

Choose one of the questions it suggests, or type your own and choose Ask or press Enter. A question can run to 2,000 characters.

The suggestions fit the campaign, such as What are the main themes in what people said?, What are people most unhappy about?, and Do the answers differ from one language to another? for a campaign in more than one language. The questions worth asking are the ones a chart can't answer, such as what people want changed or which answers are worth reading in full.

It answers in the language you ask in. Follow-up questions build on the conversation so far.

Reading a reply​

  • The numbers in a reply are the answers it cites. Choose one to open that answer.
  • The answers it cites, under the reply, lists them with their summaries.
  • The line under that says how many answers it read, such as Read all 33 answers.

When the answers don't settle a question, it says so instead of guessing.

What it reads​

The assistant reads the campaign's 200 newest answers whole. It also sees each one's prompt, date, language, sentiment, and topics. It also reads the campaign's counts, so it can say how many across the whole campaign. It doesn't read hidden answers or answers still on their way.

On a campaign of more than 200 answers, the line under a reply says so, such as Read the 200 newest of 512 answers.

The assistant needs answers with words in them. Until the first ones are transcribed and analyzed, it has nothing to read.

The conversation​

On a large campaign, a reply can take a while. You can go elsewhere in the app meanwhile, and the reply is waiting when you come back. Each person can ask up to 60 questions an hour.

The conversation lasts until you close Community Microphone or choose New conversation. Nobody else sees it, and we don't keep your questions. Copy anything worth keeping somewhere of your own.

If a reply stops short, it says This reply hit its length limit and stops short. Ask a narrower question to get the rest. If the assistant couldn't answer, choose Ask again.