Welcome to Actian AI Analyst¶
Actian AI Analyst lets your team ask questions about your data in plain language and get answers grounded in your semantic layer, without writing SQL or knowing your database structure.
New to the terms used in these docs? Start with Key concepts.
Two interfaces¶
AI Analyst has two interfaces, called Explorer and Studio. You switch between them in the organization switcher at the top of the sidebar.
| Studio | Explorer | |
|---|---|---|
| For | Data teams and analytics engineers | Business users and analysts |
| What you do | Connect data, build the semantic layer (Models, Metrics, Glossary), and configure AI Analysts | Ask questions, explore data, save Artifacts, and follow Scheduled Insights |
| Access | Edit or Manage members in the active Workspace, or Manage organization / Manage members and access for the organization (for example the Administrator or Editor preset) | Chat (or higher) in a Workspace, for example the Viewer preset. Members who hold only Manage billing or Manage inference see Settings only |
Anyone who can open Studio can also open Explorer. Members with Studio access land in Studio when they sign in. Everyone else lands in Explorer.
Capabilities: what you can do¶
What you can do depends on your Capabilities (see Members).
- Organization-level capabilities: Manage organization, Manage members and access, Manage billing and Manage inference.
- Workspace capabilities: in each Workspace you can hold Chat (ask questions), Edit (build AI Analysts, the semantic layer and connections) or Manage members (manage who belongs to that Workspace). Edit and Manage members both include Chat.
Administrators usually start a member from a preset: Administrator, Editor, Viewer or Billing contact. A preset is a one-time starting point, not a role the member keeps. It grants Workspace capabilities in the organization's default Workspace only. Access to other Workspaces must be granted separately. This applies to administrators too.
Not sure what you can do? If you see only Explorer in the organization switcher, you can ask questions of the AI Analysts shared with you. Building AI Analysts takes the Edit capability in the Workspace you're in (for example from the Editor or Administrator preset). Studio also appears for people who only manage members or the organization, so seeing Studio doesn't by itself mean you can build. To change your Capabilities, ask a member with Manage members and access.
No product access yet
If you can sign in but open neither Explorer nor Studio, you don't hold any Capability in the organization yet. Ask an administrator to give you access.
Workspaces¶
An organization can hold several Workspaces. Each Workspace has its own semantic layer, AI Analysts, conversations and Artifacts, and nothing in one Workspace is visible from another. Every organization has one default Workspace. If you have access to more than one, choose the Workspace from the organization switcher. See Workspaces.
Settings¶
Settings brings together your personal settings (Profile, Security, Notifications) and the organization's administration pages, such as Organization, Members, Workspaces, Inference, API keys and Audit. You see only the pages your Capabilities allow. In Studio, open Settings from the Manage group in the sidebar. In Explorer, open Profile, Security or Notifications from your account menu.
Administrators can also:
- Connect Enterprise SSO with your company's identity provider on the organization's Security page (in the Administration group of Settings). This requires Manage organization and is available in plans that include Enterprise SSO.
- Choose the language model and embedding model the organization uses under Settings → Inference (requires Manage inference). If no language model is connected, conversations are blocked until someone with Manage inference adds one.
Steward¶
Steward is the AI assistant for data teams in Studio. It helps you build and maintain the semantic layer. For example, it can draft a complete model for you. See Using Steward.
Delivery options¶
AI Analyst is available as Actian SaaS or as a self-managed deployment that runs on your own infrastructure. Self-managed deployments can be connected or air-gapped. On air-gapped deployments, integrations that depend on outside services (such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, the in-app support chat and the hosted Docs link) are not available.