Lesson 2 · 7-minute read

Pick the Right Assistant

Your public workspace starts with four assistants. In this lesson, you’ll learn what each one is for and how to switch between them.

In Lesson 1, you used the AI Guide. Now you’ll meet the other three public assistants and learn when to pick each one.

Quick Reference — Your Assistants at a Glance

Here’s a quick look at the assistants available on the platform. You can come back to this card anytime.

Assistant Best For Not Ideal For
AI Guide Learning the platform, getting started Real work tasks
Document Analyst Reading and analysing uploaded documents Tasks without a specific document
Quick Assistant Fast brainstorms, rough drafts, quick lookups Anything for a funder or board
Thoughtful Assistant Important decisions, careful analysis Time-sensitive tasks

What’s in this lesson

1

Open the Model Dropdown

First, let’s find where you switch assistants. It takes one click.

Where to look: At the very top left of the screen, you’ll see the name of the assistant you’re currently using. If you just finished Lesson 1, it probably says “AI Guide.”

What to do: Click on that name. A dropdown list will appear showing all the assistants available to you.

What you’ll see: A list of four public assistants. Each one has a name and a short description.

What happens: Nothing changes yet — you’re just browsing. Clicking the name opens the list, but you haven’t switched to anything. Think of it like opening a menu at a restaurant — you’re just looking at your options.

The model dropdown open in the top-left area of the screen, showing AI Guide, Quick Assistant, Thoughtful Assistant, and Document Analyst
2

Meet Your Assistants

Each assistant is designed for a different kind of task. Here’s who they are and when to use them.

About these names For detailed descriptions of all available tools, see the Tools page. The names below are what you will see in the assistant dropdown.

AI Guide

You already met this one in Lesson 1. The AI Guide helps you learn the platform — use it when you’re getting started or want to explore a new feature.

Document Analyst

Give this assistant a document, and it will read the whole thing and pull out what matters. Upload meeting notes and ask for action items. Share a policy and ask for a plain-language summary. It works best when it has something specific to read.

Best for: Reading and analysing uploaded documents (works best under ~50 pages). For longer documents, upload the most relevant section.

Not ideal for: Tasks without a specific document.

Quick Assistant

Need a fast answer? This assistant responds quickly and keeps things brief. Good for brainstorming, rough first drafts, or when you just need a quick look at something. Don’t use it for anything that needs to be polished — it prioritises speed over depth.

Best for: Fast brainstorms, rough drafts, quick lookups.

Not ideal for: Anything going to a funder or board.

Thoughtful Assistant

When the question really matters, use this one. It takes more time but gives more careful, nuanced responses. Good for important decisions, complex analysis, or when you want the AI to think things through thoroughly.

Best for: Important decisions, careful analysis, nuanced questions.

Not ideal for: Time-sensitive tasks.

Turn on web search first When you need current information, click the diamond-shaped tools icon near the message box, turn Web Search on, and look for the blue globe. That tells you the assistant is pulling from the public web rather than relying only on what it already knows.
3

Switch to a Different Assistant

Now that you know who’s who, let’s actually switch assistants. It’s quick and easy.

What to do: Click on the assistant name at the top of the screen to open the dropdown. Then click on “Thoughtful Assistant.”

What happens: The name at the top of the screen changes to “Thoughtful Assistant.” Your next message will go to that assistant instead of the AI Guide.

Nothing breaks You can switch assistants anytime. Your past conversations are still there. Switching just means your next message goes to a different assistant — like walking over to a different colleague’s desk.

A note about switching mid-conversation: If you switch assistants in the middle of a conversation, the new assistant won’t know what was said before. For best results, start a new chat when you switch assistants.

Clicking a different assistant in the model dropdown and seeing the name change at the top of the screen

Try switching assistants now.

Try switching assistants
4

Try It — Compare Two Assistants

This is the fun part. You’re going to ask two different assistants the same question and see how their answers compare.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Start a new chat and switch to Quick Assistant.
  2. Type: “What should I include in a thank-you email to a volunteer?”
  3. Read the response.
  4. Start another new chat and switch to Thoughtful Assistant.
  5. Type the exact same question.
  6. Compare the two responses.

What you’ll notice: Quick Assistant gives you a fast, short answer you can use right away. Thoughtful Assistant takes more time, but gives a more detailed, nuanced response with more context and reasoning.

Thoughtful response

A detailed, thoughtful response to the volunteer thank-you email question

Quick response

A short, quick response to the same volunteer thank-you email question

Ready to try it? Start with Quick Assistant.

Try it in the platform
What you should see Two different responses to the same question. One shorter and faster, one longer and more detailed. Neither is wrong — they’re just different tools for different situations.

You Know Your Assistants

You now know which assistant to pick for different tasks. You can open the dropdown, read what’s available, and choose the one that fits your needs.

Good to know You can always switch assistants. There’s no wrong choice — just better fits for different tasks. If you pick one and it doesn’t feel right, start a new chat and try another.

Ready to put your assistants to work?

Try your assistants

In the next lesson, you’ll learn how to upload documents and work with them — so your assistants can help you with the files you already have.

Next: Lesson 3 — Add Your Documents →