Tools in the Chat

Deutsch: Werkzeuge im Chat

AI models can use tools on their own: when you ask something a model can't answer from what it knows, it searches the web or reads a page, and answers with the sources it used. You decide which tools a model may use, and you can watch what it does.

The tools

Tool	What it does
"Web Search"	Searches the web with one of your search services and reads the best matching pages. Needs setting up first.
"Read Web Page"	Loads a web page and reads its content.
"Search Confluence"	Finds pages in your organization's Confluence wiki. Needs setting up first.
"Semantic Search"	Lets the AI search the data sources of your chat itself. It works on its own whenever a chat has data sources; see Data Sources.

An answer may call tools up to 15 times.

Which models can use tools

Not every model can use tools. In the provider selection, an icon "Tool calling possible" marks the models that can. For other models, the tool selection explains why it's not available.

If you're sure that a model can use tools although AI Studio doesn't know it, switch it on in the settings of the provider: "Show Expert Settings" → "Override Model Capabilities" → "Tool calling". See Providers and Models.

Choosing tools in the chat

1. In the chat, click "Select tools" in the toolbar.
2. Choose the tools the AI may use in this chat.

The chat keeps your choice. While an answer is being written, you can't change the tools; your choice applies again from the next message.

To start every new chat with certain tools, open "Chat Options" with the gear icon and choose them under "Default tools for chat". A chat template can bring tools of its own, too.

While the AI uses a tool, a box shows "Using tool:" and its name. After the answer, a wrench button lists each tool call with its arguments and its result; see Using the Chat.

Setting up tools

Open "Settings" → "Tool Settings". The table lists every tool with its "Status": a green check means it's ready, a warning icon means it still needs settings. The gear icon in the "Settings" column opens the settings of a tool.

Web Search

Web Search needs at least one search service and a "Default Language":

• "SearXNG": a free search engine that you or your organization run. Enter its address under "SearXNG URL". The instance must offer its results in the JSON format. Public SearXNG instances usually don't, and they block automated requests, so they don't work with AI Studio.
• "Staan": a European search index. You need an API key; the first requests are free.
• "Tavily": a search service with 1,000 free requests per month. You need an API key.

AI Studio keeps the API keys of the search services in the credential store of your operating system. With several services, "Use Of Several Search Services" decides whether AI Studio asks them one after another, all at once, or only the "Preferred Search Service".

"Default Language" is required, because many search services return nothing without a language. Choose "Any language" if you don't want to restrict the results. Further settings limit the number of results, the waiting times, and how much text AI Studio reads from the pages. A "Default Safe Search Policy" filters explicit results; search services that can't filter them aren't used while a policy is set.

Read Web Page

Read Web Page works without setting up. Its settings cover special cases:

• "Free Address Choice": off by default. The AI then reads only addresses that stand in the chat, such as in your messages, attached documents, or the results of other tools. Switch it on to let the AI choose addresses itself.
• "Allowed Private Hosts": for security reasons, AI Studio doesn't read pages on private or VPN addresses, such as your intranet. List the hosts it may read anyway, for example, intranet.example.org, *.example.org. Such pages need a provider with the confidence level "High".

Search Confluence

Enter the HTTPS address of your wiki under "Confluence Base URL". It works with Confluence Data Center; Confluence Cloud isn't supported yet. For a wiki on a private address, AI Studio signs in with your operating system account, and you should also add its host to the "Allowed Private Hosts" of Read Web Page, which opens the pages found.

Search Confluence always needs a provider with the confidence level "High".

Switching tools off and minimum confidence

• "Enabled": switch off tools you never need. They then appear in no tool selection, and the AI can't use them.
• "Minimum provider confidence": a tool runs only with providers at this level or higher. See Provider Confidence.

Your organization may switch tools off or set their minimum. A lock then shows why.

Where a chat may send data

Once a chat contains internal content, such as an internal web page, a page of your Confluence wiki, or a passage from your data sources, a web search could carry this content to third parties, for example, inside a search query. AI Studio therefore restricts what such a chat may still do. There are three levels:

• "Only services configured in AI Studio": the chat reads no other web pages and doesn't search the web.
• "Configured services and addresses from the chat": the chat may also read web pages whose addresses stand in the chat. It doesn't search the web. This is the default.
• "No restriction": the chat may use every tool you chose.

You set the level for internal pages in the settings of Read Web Page, under "Where a chat may send data after reading internal pages", and for each data source in its settings. When a tool is blocked in a chat for this reason, the tool selection explains why. A new chat without this content can use the tool again.

Protection against hidden instructions

Web pages may contain hidden instructions meant to make the AI do something you didn't ask for. AI Studio removes such instructions from the results of tools before the AI sees them, and tells you. See Attachments.

Tools in assistants

Most assistants hide the tool selection; the Coding assistant and the Slide Assistant show it. In the options of an assistant, "Show tool selection in this assistant?" shows or hides it, and "Default tools for this assistant" chooses the tools it starts with. Some assistants, such as Document Analysis, take their tools from a policy instead.

Where to go next

• Data Sources: let the AI search your own documents.
• Voice Input: dictate instead of typing.