The AI Assistant in Forage
4 min read · Last updated · Page version 3
Forage has one AI assistant. It runs inside your own deployment, and no document content goes to an external AI service. It helps in three places, and in none of them does it decide anything: every label is applied by a rule that a person has switched on.
| Where | What the AI assistant does there | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Suggested Labels, in the Classification group | Looks through groups of similar files in the sites you choose and suggests a label for each kind of record it finds. You accept, edit, merge or reject each suggestion. See get label suggestions. | Live, where content classification is enabled |
| Files to Protect, in the Classification group | Looks at the files carrying one of your Microsoft 365 sensitivity labels and lists the files Forage has read that look like them but carry no label, or only General or Public, for a person to review. See find files that may need a sensitivity label. | Live, where content classification is enabled |
| Ask AI a Question, in the Records group | Answers a question you type in plain English from the files Forage has read, with the number of the file behind each statement, or turns it into a search and lists every file that matches. See ask AI a question about your files. | Live |
What the AI assistant never does
- It never decides which label a file gets. A rule that a person has switched on does that, and the same document always gives the same result.
- It never applies, changes or removes a sensitivity label in Microsoft 365. Files to Protect points files out, and a person decides.
- It never learns from or trains on your content, and it changes no file.
Privacy
- It runs inside your own deployment. No document content goes to an external AI service.
- Forage keeps the text it reads, and its search index, inside your own deployment.
- When you ask a question and give an email address, Forage emails you the answer, as a PDF with the names of the files it came from, and a link to it. The files themselves are never emailed.
- Only Full Administrators can use these pages, because Forage does not yet check each person's own access to files in SharePoint.
Limits, stated openly
- Suggested labels come from groups of files that are alike, so a file unlike the others may get no suggestion. Check each suggestion before you accept it.
- Ask AI a Question finds files by the words in them, not by their meaning, uses only files Forage has read, can misread a figure, and has no follow-up questions. Check important figures against the cited file. A list of every matching file holds the files whose words or names match the search, not every file about the subject.
- Files to Protect can list files that do not need a label and can miss files that do, so a person reviews what it finds.
- Reading slows down while the AI assistant works, and returns to normal speed by itself.
The two rule checks on the Content Rules page, checking how often a rule is right and suggested words for a rule, do not use the AI assistant. A person marks the sample, and the words come from counts.
See also get label suggestions, ask AI a question about your files, find files that may need a sensitivity label and product features.
Questions go to sales@smikar.com.