Build an AI That Actually Knows Your Stuff
Maps to: AI Application Builder · Knowledge Worker · Researcher · Solutions Engineer · AI Engineer
You're going to build an assistant that answers questions using only your own notes, links and documents, and that you can trust because every answer shows you the exact note it came from. The skill is checking: getting it to answer from one set of material, then going back to that material to see whether the answer is really in there instead of taking its word. That is one of the most wanted things AI application builders do, because every company wants an assistant that knows their own stuff and doesn't make things up. You'll have one that knows your world and shows its notes.
You're done when: An assistant that answers only from your own notes. For every answer, you can click through to the exact note it came from and check for yourself: is this answer really true, or made up? When it kept pointing at the wrong note, you added or removed notes to fix that. The checking is the work: not 'it answers questions,' but 'I can tell when an answer is really true, and I fixed it when it wasn't.'
How this shows up on a resume or college app
I built an AI assistant that answers questions only from my own notes and documents, and by checking the note behind every answer I learned to tell a genuinely backed-up answer from a confident invention, fixing my material when it kept finding the wrong thing. I learned that the hard part of building AI on real sources is proving the answer is actually in them, not just that it sounds right.
When you finish, Sidequest drafts your Common App activity description from what you actually built.
Not sure yet? Play 5 minutes as an AI application builder first and see how the work feels.
The plan
- 1
Step 1
Pick what it should know, add your notes, ask one question
Give it a first few of your own notes and links on one topic you already know well. Then ask it one question. Watching it answer out of your own notes, and show you the exact one it used, is what gets you.
- 2
Steps 2-3
Add the rest of your notes
Add your real notes, links and documents, and keep them tidy. What you put in decides what comes out: feed it rubbish and it hands you rubbish, said with total confidence.
- 3
Steps 3-4
Push it hard: which answers are really in your notes?
This is the real work, and nobody grades it for you: ask hard questions, then check each answer against your actual notes. Clean up your notes until it finds the right one every time.
- 4
Step 5
Use it + share + close
Use your assistant for something real, like studying for a test or answering a question you actually want answered. Then share it, or share how you built it, with someone who'd use it.