AI Companion answers questions about your company using your own resources. Ask about time away, org structure, headcount, job roles, compensation, documents, equipment, performance, workflows and requests, and get an answer built from the Humaans data and company documents you already have permission to see.
Answers can include tables and charts, and answers drawn from company documents link back to the source.
AI Companion has its own place in the main navigation, and conversations are saved so you can return to them.
Before you begin
If you have Owner permissions, enable AI Companion in Settings > AI.
To use AI Companion, your role must have the Can access AI Companion permission selected.
AI Companion uses AI credits.
Start a conversation
Click AI Companion in the main navigation.
Enter your question in the message field.
Press Enter to send it.
The home page also shows suggestion cards for common questions, such as who's away this week or headcount by team. Click a card to send that question straight away.
Ask questions effectively
The phrasing of your question will impact the answer AI Companion provides. Here are some examples:
Name the department or team you're referring to. "Who joined the sales team in the last six months" gives a tighter answer than "who are the new starters."
Provide a time frame for anything historical, such as "over the last 12 months" or "since January."
Specify what structure you'd prefer for the answer, such as a table, a chart, or a breakdown by team.
Split a question that covers several topics into separate questions.
Tables, charts and grids
Where an answer suits a visual, AI Companion renders one instead of a long block of text.
Format | Used for |
Table | Lists of records sharing the same attributes, such as everyone in a department or the ten most recent time away bookings. |
Chart | Trends, comparisons and distributions, such as headcount by department or time away across 12 months. Bar, line and pie charts each include a tab showing the underlying data. |
Nine-box grid | Two-axis placement of people across low, medium and high, such as performance against potential. |
Check the source of an answer
Where an answer draws on a company document, AI Companion cites the source.
Click a citation to open the document it came from and read the surrounding context yourself.
Citations appear on facts taken from your uploaded documents. General guidance and answers built from Humaans records don't carry a citation.
Return to a past conversation
Click AI Companion in the main navigation.
Open the chat list in the sidebar.
Select the conversation you want to reopen.
Conversations are private to you. Continue an existing conversation where the context still applies, and start a new one when you move to an unrelated topic.
AI Companion and permissions
AI Companion works within the permissions already configured in Humaans. It reads the same records you can open yourself, so two people asking the same question can get different answers depending on what they have access to.
An employee can ask about their own time away balance, their team, and company policies.
A manager has access to information about their direct reports.
A People leader with broader permissions (Owner or Admin) can reach organisation-wide data.
There's no separate set of AI permissions to configure. To change what someone can reach through AI Companion, change their role permissions. To learn more, visit Managing permissions and roles.
Add company documents as a knowledge source
Alongside Humaans records, AI Companion searches your company's connected knowledge base: Notion pages, Google Drive files, documents uploaded to Humaans, and the Humaans Help Centre.
This covers any topic your company writes about, including handbooks, benefits, onboarding guides and internal policies.
Those with Owner permissions connect sources in Settings > AI > Knowledge sources. To learn more, visit AI Companion x Notion.
What AI Companion won't do
AI Companion answers questions about data. It doesn't make decisions or take actions on your behalf.
It won't recommend a course of action on terminations, disciplinary action, compensation changes, legal compliance or performance management. It surfaces the underlying data and points you to your manager, HR, or legal.
It won't speculate about a person's intentions, character or future plans.
It won't return data you can't already open yourself.
It won't change records in Humaans.
Troubleshoot AI Companion
Issue | Reason |
"AI credits used up" | You've used your monthly credit allowance, or your company has used its free allowance. |
AI Companion missing from the main navigation | AI Companion isn't enabled for your company, or your role doesn't hold the Can access AI Companion permission. Contact your HR department or People team. |
An answer that misses records you expect | AI Companion only reads what your permissions cover. Check whether you can open those records directly. |
An answer drawn from an out-of-date document | The source document needs updating, or the knowledge source needs reconnecting. Click the citation to check the source. |