# AI Assistant

> Investigate errors, latency, and alerts in a Last9 AI chat conversation, then open the underlying telemetry in the dashboard.

Source: https://last9.io/docs/ai/ai-assistant/

AI Assistant is the chat surface for Last9 AI in the dashboard. Ask about a service and time window, review the evidence behind each answer, and open the underlying telemetry in Last9.

Start with a specific service, environment, and time window:

Replace `checkout-api` with your service name. For the full investigation method, refer to [Investigate an incident with AI](/docs/ai/investigate-an-incident/).

:::note[Conversations are personal]
An AI Assistant conversation belongs to you. Teammates cannot see it until you share it, and they can only read what you share. To investigate together in one place, use a [Slack thread](/docs/ai/slack/), where several engineers ask the assistant in the same conversation. See [Collaboration mode](/docs/ai/collaboration-mode/) for shared conversations, Slack investigations, and team access.
:::

## Prerequisites

- AI access enabled for your Last9 organization. See [Enable Last9 AI](/docs/ai/#enable-last9-ai).
- Relevant logs, metrics, or traces flowing into Last9.

## Start a conversation

1. Open [**AI Assistant**](https://app.last9.io/ai-assistant) in the Last9 dashboard.

2. Ask about a service and time window. Include an environment, alert, request ID, trace ID, or error message when available.

3. Review the answer and open its evidence links. Check that the query, filters, and time range match your question.

4. Ask a follow-up in the same conversation. Focus on a service or request, compare with successful requests, or ask which evidence is still missing.

![AI Assistant welcome screen](../../../../assets/content/docs/ai/ai-assistant-welcome.png)

## Work in a conversation

Once a conversation is open, use it to follow the evidence, check an alert, and keep the signals you verified.

### Investigate errors and latency

Ask the assistant to inspect exceptions, log patterns, service performance, and traces. Useful follow-ups connect an observed symptom to a specific request or dependency:

The assistant can only investigate data available to its tools. Missing instrumentation, restricted access, and incomplete results can leave the cause unresolved.

### Review alerts and changes

Use an alert as an investigation starting point. Ask which condition fired, which services are affected, and whether available [change events](/docs/change-events/) overlap with the incident.

### Open the evidence links

Responses can include links to the underlying data in Last9. Use them to inspect the query, continue in the explorer, and share evidence with a teammate.

Use the linked query as the starting point for additional filters or a more detailed investigation.

### Create a dashboard from an investigation

Ask the assistant to create a dashboard for the signals you want to keep watching:

The assistant can propose creating or updating saved dashboards. Review the operation and its arguments before approving the change. For an existing dashboard, provide its URL and ask for an update.

## Chat history

Use chat history to return to an investigation and continue asking questions. Start a new chat for an unrelated incident so its details stay separate.

When reopening an older conversation, ask for a new query window before relying on its recovery status. Previous answers describe the data queried at that time.

## Ask mode in Logs and Traces

For a focused query in [Logs Explorer](/docs/logs-explorer/) or [Traces Explorer](/docs/traces-explorer/), use the **Ask** tab to describe the records you want to find:

```text
Show errors for checkout-api in production over the last 30 minutes.
```

Review the generated filters and matching results. Use AI Assistant when you need a conversation that follows evidence across signals.

![Ask mode in Logs Explorer](../../../../assets/content/docs/ai/ai-ask-mode.png)

---

## Troubleshooting

- **AI Assistant is unavailable**

  Ask an organization admin to check **Enable Last9 AI** in [AI Settings](https://app.last9.io/ai-settings).

- **The answer covers the wrong service**

  Confirm the service name, environment, and data source, then correct them in a follow-up.

- **No data is returned**

  Check the time zone, time window, filters, and whether the relevant signal is ingested.

- **The analysis is incomplete**

  Ask which queries failed or returned partial results. Resolve those gaps before relying on the conclusion.

- **A saved answer no longer matches current conditions**

  Ask the assistant to query a new explicit window.

Please get in touch with us on [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/Q3p2EEucx9) or [Email](mailto:support@last9.io) if you have any questions.