How do AI chatbots answer questions from company data?

What company data includes

Company data includes content created and maintained by a business. This often includes:

• Website and landing pages
• Product documentation
• Help center articles
• FAQs and policies
• Internal knowledge bases

This data defines what the chatbot is allowed to answer.

How AI chatbots use company data

AI chatbots use company data by retrieving relevant information when a question is asked. The system searches the connected data, selects the most relevant sections, and generates an answer based only on that information.

This approach is explained in more detail in how Chatref works and avoids using public or unrelated data sources.

Step-by-step: answering questions from company data

Step 1: Company data is connected

The process begins by connecting company-owned content to the chatbot. This content becomes the single source of truth for all answers.

This setup is commonly used when answering customer questions automatically.

Step 2: Relevant information is retrieved

When a user asks a question, the system retrieves only the most relevant information from the connected company data. Unrelated content is ignored.

This retrieval-first approach follows the principles of retrieval-augmented generation.

Step 3: Answers are generated from retrieved data only

After relevant information is retrieved, the chatbot generates an answer using only that content. It does not rely on general knowledge or external sources.

This allows businesses to provide reliable answers through tools such as a knowledge-base chatbot.

Accuracy and data boundaries

Answers are strictly limited to company data. If the connected data does not include the required information, the chatbot does not guess or create new details.

This helps ensure consistency and trust across customer interactions.

When company-data chatbots are commonly used

Chatbots that answer questions from company data are commonly used for:

• Customer support
• Product documentation
• Internal team knowledge
• Policy and process explanations

They work best when information is documented and kept current.

What happens when company data does not contain an answer?

If the company data does not include the information needed to answer a question, the chatbot responds by stating that the answer is not available. It does not attempt to infer or generate speculative responses.

This behavior is explained further in the FAQ.

Summary

AI chatbots answer questions from company data by retrieving relevant information from business-owned content and generating responses strictly from that data. This approach improves accuracy, maintains trust, and avoids hallucinations.