Ask a Mind about your data

Use this tutorial to get an answer from AI about your data and check it yourself. You link tables to an Analytical Mind, ask a question, open the SQL in the Editor and find the saved query in Artifacts.

You start with a table that holds data in the Lake or the Warehouse. If you do not have one yet, follow Model your data in the Warehouse first.

What you need

Your administrator gives you these permissions:

• View Minds, View Chat/Message and Add Chat/Message to chat with a Mind.
• Edit Mind or Add Mind to save changes to a Mind's sources.
• Execute Query or Add/Remove Consoles to see Open in Query Editor.
• View Artifacts to open saved queries.

The Use Minds permission set includes the chat and artifact permissions. Minds Manager adds Add Mind and Edit Mind. The full list is on Who can do what with Minds.

Link tables to a Mind

A Mind answers only from the tables you link in its Sources tab.

1. Open Minds in the sidebar and find an Analytical Mind in the list. If there is none, ask your administrator, or create one as described in If no Mind exists yet.
2. Open the Sources tab. It shows the Data Sources heading and how many sources are connected. Click Add Sources if there are none yet, or Edit Sources if there are.
3. In Edit Data Sources, tick the Lake and Warehouse tables the Mind may use. You can select up to 100 tables. A table that is not deployed is listed under Not deployed, and the Mind cannot read it until it is deployed.
4. Expand the table and choose what the AI receives. A table you tick starts with Structure Only. Choose Sample Data or Full Data if the AI needs the values, as the table below explains.
5. Untick any column the Mind must not read. When you tick a table, its columns are selected for you, except audit columns. The AI can read only the columns you select.
6. Click Save Changes.

Ask a question

1. In Minds, click New Chat, or press Ctrl+Shift+Q to start a New Conversation. It opens with the Mind you last selected. To pick a model and response style, see Ask a Mind.
2. To ask another Mind, open the Mind picker in the message box. Its list is titled Select Mind, and Search minds... filters it.
3. Type a question in the message box, for example Total sales by month this year, and send it. Name the measure, the period and how to group it. To put exact values from a linked table into your question, type @. See Chat commands, shortcuts and privacy.
4. Wait for the answer. When the Mind runs a query, a query card appears in the answer. It shows the query's name and the number of rows.

Check the SQL in the Editor

1. Click the query card to see the SQL and the rows. You can also open Tool History in the chat header, or press Ctrl+Shift+H, to see every query of the chat with its SQL and result.
2. Below the SQL, click Open in Query Editor. DataMind OS opens the Editor with a new console that already holds the same SQL.
3. Run the query in the Editor and compare its rows with the answer. To learn how to run a query and read the result, see Run your first query.

If the SQL reads the wrong tables or columns, say so in the chat and ask the Mind to correct the query.

Find the result in Artifacts

You do not save the query yourself. Each time the Mind runs a query, it saves it as a Query artifact, named by the Mind. If the Mind changes the query later in the same chat, the artifact gets a new version.

1. Click Artifacts in the chat header to see the artifacts of this chat, or press Ctrl+Shift+A to open the Artifacts page. Find your query by its name.
2. Open the query. Click Copy to copy its SQL.
3. If the query has an earlier version, Compare shows the difference from the previous version.
4. Click Convert to View to turn the query into a view in the Warehouse.

You now have an answer from the Mind, the same SQL running in the Editor and a saved copy in Artifacts. If the rows match, the answer agrees with the data. For more on saved queries, see Artifacts.

If no Mind exists yet

To create a Mind you need Add Mind, which Minds Manager includes. Do this on a computer.

1. Open Minds. If you have no Mind yet, the page shows No Minds Available with the form. Otherwise, click Add Mind in the Minds sidebar header.
2. Leave Mind Kind on Analytical Mind. The field appears only if you may also create builder Minds.
3. Enter a unique Name, check the Owner Role and the Responsible person, and click Create Mind. The owner role decides which tables the Mind can be given.
4. The setup wizard opens with the steps Settings, AI Config, Sources and Training. Click Next until you reach Sources, then link tables as in Link tables to a Mind.
5. Click Next, then Finish Setup on the last step.

For every setting of the form and the wizard, see Create and configure a Mind.

Questions, answered

The Mind says it cannot find my table. What do I do?

The table is not linked in Sources, or the column it needs is not selected. Open the Mind's Sources tab, click Edit Sources, tick the table, select the column and click Save Changes.

Can the Mind use tables I did not link?

No. An Analytical Mind answers only from the tables you link in Sources.

Why is the Sources tab missing?

Either your screen is narrower than 768 px, or your role lets you view training cards but not edit the Mind. Use a desktop or tablet, or ask your administrator for Edit Mind.

Can I change a Mind's sources without Edit Mind?

No. Saving source changes needs Edit Mind or Add Mind. Ask your administrator to give you one of them.

How can I check the AI's numbers?

Open the query card and click Open in Query Editor. Run the same SQL there and compare the rows with the answer.

Why did no query artifact appear?

The Mind saves a query artifact only when it runs a query. If it answered without one, ask it to run a query for the answer.

I do not see Open in Query Editor. Why?

You need Execute Query or Add/Remove Consoles. Ask your administrator for one of them.

Which AI answers my questions?

Kartlos, the AI of DataMind OS. Model pickers show Kartlos Standard and Kartlos Premium, and any other models your company allows.