Answers from our own content
Anyone who visits an agency website usually has a concrete question: Does the service suit their own project? Are there comparable projects? How does the collaboration work?
On our website, an AI search helps with this. It answers with texts from the pages and articles of this website and with answers that we have written ourselves – nothing beyond that. Anyone who wants to can ask a follow-up question directly below an answer; the search then takes into account what the conversation was just about.
It is important to us that the answers fit the question, are transparent and show their limits.
The AI selects, it does not formulate
In first tests, we saw that convincingly worded answers can still contain incorrect information: plausible phone numbers that did not exist, or reference clients we had never worked for.
That is why the AI does not write its own answers at HMH. It selects suitable sections from our website content and the answers we have prepared. These texts are displayed unchanged. This way we keep control over the statements and their wording.
This prevents the model from inventing additional information while formulating. Nevertheless, it can select a text that does not fit the question. That is why we also check the assignment and improve it based on our tests. Below each answer it says how it was created: “From our texts, selected by AI” or “Written by HMH”.
If nothing fits the question, we say so. We then show pages that come closest to the topic and invite a conversation. For us, missing information on the website does not mean that we do not offer a service or have no experience with it. That is why the search does not deny anything that is merely not described.
Sources and prepared answers
If an answer comes from a website page, we show the matching source. In addition, we use answers from our editorially maintained knowledge base: we formulate and maintain important information, for example on services, prices, processes and availability, ourselves. Further links below an answer are a reading recommendation, not evidence for every statement.
Whether a prepared answer fits a question is not decided solely by a single keyword, but above all by the meaning of the question. For this, we store sample questions for each answer. This assignment can also be off the mark; if we change content or tests reveal gaps, we revise answers and examples.
Follow-up questions in the conversation
For follow-up questions such as “And what does that cost?”, the search takes the previous course of the conversation into account. Changes of topic should also be recognised correctly. We regularly check whether the assignment is right. The system must not replace missing information with assumptions. Because the course of the conversation comes from the browser, we also check whether earlier answers in it actually come from us.
Only with your consent
The AI selection is only activated with your consent to the “AI search” category in the cookie settings. For this, we transmit your question to an external AI service. Without consent, you can still search the website using the keyword search; the chat window remains switched off and shows how to switch it on. Which provider is used and which data is processed is explained in our privacy policy.
When the AI service is unavailable
An AI function depends on an external service. If it is temporarily unavailable or our usage limit has been reached, the classic search remains available. Prepared answers that are assigned without AI can also still be displayed. Where this is not possible, visitors receive a notice and suitable pages to read on.
How we test
We test individual questions as well as coherent conversations. We check whether the answers fit, follow-up questions are assigned correctly and changes of topic work. After changes, we repeat the tests so that errors that have already been fixed do not reoccur. Because a language model does not select the same way every time, we ask questions several times and evaluate the worst run.
Which websites is this suitable for?
Whether such a search makes sense for a website depends on the existing content and the questions of its visitors. The more services or projects requiring explanation a website describes, the more likely it is to be worthwhile. How we proceed is described under AI and automation.
