AI Assistant
Chat with AI, search for people by skills, get recommendations, and use natural language queries.
The AI Assistant is SkillHouse’s conversational interface. You can chat in natural language to search for people by skills, get recommendations, and ask questions about the platform — without switching to multiple menus or search screens.
Where to Find the AI Assistant
- Full page — Open AI Assistant from the main navigation (
/assistant). - Global widget — On any tenant page, use the Clippy assistant character (bottom-right), open the settings button to choose a character or Open assistant, or press Ctrl+Shift+A (Mac: ⌘+Shift+A) to open a side panel without leaving your current screen.
- Expand — From the panel, use Open full assistant to continue the same conversation on the full page.
The side panel is not shown on the dedicated assistant page; the character remains visible for voice and animations.
Using context
The assistant uses a hybrid context model so answers stay relevant to what you are viewing:
- Automatic context — When you open the assistant from a workspace page (e.g. Delivery, OKRs, 1:1s, Knowledge), a context bar shows chips for the current page (workspace, campaign, assessment run, session, etc.).
- Manual context — Type
@in the chat input to mention a person, skill, or knowledge doc, or click Add in the context bar to search and attach entities. - Remove context — Dismiss a chip to exclude it from the next message; auto chips from the page can be removed for that session.
- Persistence — Context attachments are saved with the conversation so returning to a chat restores what you attached.
Context only includes data you are allowed to see. The assistant’s tools (people search, OKRs, assessments, knowledge) are filtered by your permissions.
Assistant character (ClippyJS)
Your assistant appears as a Microsoft Office-style character powered by ClippyJS. Open the gear control near the character to:
- Switch between characters (Clippy, Merlin, Bonzi, and others)
- Toggle voice (text-to-speech reads assistant replies aloud)
- Hide or show the character
Click the character or use Open assistant in the menu to open the chat panel. Character assets remain property of Microsoft; SkillHouse uses them via the open-source ClippyJS library for internal product UX.
Voice input and output
Click the microphone in the composer to dictate a message. The assistant transcribes your speech into the text field so you can edit before sending. If the cloud transcription is unavailable, the browser may offer speech recognition as a fallback.
When voice is enabled in character settings, the assistant reads replies aloud using your browser’s speech synthesis.
Attachments
Use the paperclip to attach images (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF — up to 3 per message, 5 MB each) or a PDF (1 per message, 10 MB). Images are analyzed visually; PDF text is extracted for SkillBot to reference in its answer.
When the AI service fails
If OpenAI or the network is unavailable, SkillBot shows a clear error banner with Try again. Your draft message stays in the composer. Offline mode disables send until you reconnect.
What You Can Ask
The AI Assistant understands natural language. You can ask things like:
| Goal | Example queries |
|---|---|
| Find people | “Who knows React?” “Find someone with Python and DevOps experience.” |
| Learning | “What roadmaps fit my interests?” “What should I learn next?” |
| OKRs | “What are my OKRs this quarter?” “Remind me to check in on my backend objective.” |
| Platform help | “How do I assess my skills?” “Where do I give feedback?” |
| Recommendations | “Who can mentor me on system design?” “Suggest a training for API skills.” |
Phrase your question as you would to a colleague; the assistant will interpret and use SkillHouse data (skills, people, learning, your profile) to answer.
Searching for People by Skills
One of the most common uses is finding people by skill:
- Open the AI Assistant.
- Ask in plain language — e.g. “Who has experience with machine learning?” or “Find people who know TypeScript at level 4 or higher.”
- The assistant returns names and often match context (e.g. skills, level). You may get links to profiles or People Finder.
- Click through to view a profile or start a conversation.
This is a quick alternative to typing keywords into People Finder.
Getting Recommendations
The assistant can give personalized recommendations using your profile, skills, and interests:
- Learning — “Based on your interests, try the Data fundamentals roadmap.”
- Skills — “Consider assessing your Python skill; you haven’t updated it in a while.”
- People — “Here are colleagues who could help with React.”
- OKRs — “You have an objective due soon; want a reminder to check in?”
Ask explicitly (“What do you recommend for me?”) or ask about a topic (“What should I learn for backend?”).
Natural Language Queries
You don’t need to use exact keywords. Examples:
- “Anyone on the team good at presentations?”
- “I want to get better at system design — who can help?”
- “What’s the process for upward assessment?”
The assistant maps your question to skills, people, docs, or processes and responds with relevant links or steps when possible.
Limits and Privacy
- Permissions — The assistant only returns people and data you’re allowed to see. You won’t see private or out-of-scope information.
- Accuracy — Answers are based on current SkillHouse data (e.g. assessed skills). If something looks wrong, check the underlying profile or ask an admin.
- Actions — The assistant can show and suggest; actual actions (e.g. submitting an assessment, sending recognition) you do in the main app.
Tip: Use the AI Assistant as your first stop for “who,” “what,” and “how” questions. It can save time and point you to the right place in the platform.