Web search

Web search lets an assistant look something up on the live internet while it answers you, instead of working only from what the model learned during training and the knowledge you have given it.

When it earns its place

Switch it on when the answer has a date on it:

• “What’s the weather in Stockholm today?”
• “What was announced about AI regulation in the EU this week?”
• “Has this standard been revised since we wrote our policy?”

When the answer is already in your own material, the assistant’s knowledge is the better source — it’s faster, it stays inside Intric, and its references point back to the file you uploaded.

Turning it on for an assistant

Web search is enabled per assistant, from the Knowledge step of the assistant creation wizard or later from the assistant’s settings. Next to the toggle sits a list of allowed sites, and that list decides how much of the internet the assistant can reach:

• Leave it empty and the assistant searches the entire web, the way you would with a search engine.
• Fill it in with one or more URLs and the assistant searches inside those sites and nowhere else.

The list is a boundary, not a preference. An assistant restricted to three sites cannot reach a fourth, however the question is phrased.

Tip

Want the assistant to check a few trusted sites first, and only widen the search if it comes up empty? Leave web search open to the entire web and say so in the assistant’s instructions or in a Skill — for example, “Always check example.gov and example.org before searching anywhere else.”

Be clear about what that buys you: instructions steer the assistant, they don’t fence it in. An assistant told to prefer certain sites could still search the rest of the web whenever it judges that useful. If some sites must be out of reach, use the allowed-sites list instead — that is the only setting that actually stops it.

Availability

Web search needs a model that supports tools, and it’s subject to the security classification of the Space you’re working in. If you don’t see the option where you’d expect it, check with your administrator.

For what leaves Intric when a search runs, and what web search replaces, see Web search under Knowledge.