How do people use AI assistants?

Carried by the inertia of “search query” mentality, AI SEO professionals often oversimplify how people interact with their AI assistants in chat sessions.

To help us define the primary interaction types we surveyed the major AI platforms and compiled the following list AI chat type list:

1. Information seeking
   • Factual Q&A and explanations
   • Research and synthesis
   • Product and service discovery <– likely the main thing you care about as an SEO
   • Verification and fact-checking
   • How-to and instructions
   • Troubleshooting and diagnostics
2. Creation
   • Writing
     • Drafting (emails, essays, articles, reports)
     • Editing and proofreading
     • Creative writing (stories, poetry, scripts, worldbuilding)
   • Documents and files
     • Spreadsheets, presentations, formatted outputs
     • Templates and frameworks
   • Code
     • Writing and debugging
     • Architecture and design
     • Explaining and documenting
3. Transformation
   • Summarization and extraction
   • Translation and language conversion
   • Reformatting and restructuring
   • Tone and style adjustment
4. Analysis and reasoning
   • Data interpretation
   • Comparison and evaluation
   • Decision support
   • Math and calculations
5. Learning
   • Concept explanations and tutoring
   • Skill practice (language, interview prep)
   • Quizzing and exam prep
6. Planning and organization
   • Schedules and itineraries
   • Project and goal planning
   • Meal plans, workouts, routines
7. Brainstorming and ideation
   • Idea generation
   • Creative problem-solving
   • Naming and branding
8. Conversation
   • Emotional support and reflection
   • Casual chat and companionship
   • Roleplay and entertainment
   • Opinion and advice seeking

Funnel Mode

Let’s flip that around and reorganize it to a more familiar format:

1. In Funnel

• Awareness
  • General category exploration (“what types of project management tools exist?”)
  • Problem identification (“my back hurts when I sit at my desk all day”)
  • Trend and market research (“what’s popular for home gyms right now?”)
• Discovery
  • Product and service search (“what are good CRMs for small business?”)
  • Brand discovery (“who makes sustainable running shoes?”)
  • Professional/provider search (“find a tax accountant in Brisbane”)
  • Feature exploration (“what should I look for in a vacuum cleaner?”)
• Consideration
  • Comparison and evaluation (“Slack vs Teams vs Discord for a small team”)
  • Review and reputation inquiry (“is Dyson worth the price?”)
  • Spec and compatibility checking (“will this RAM work with my motherboard?”)
  • Price and value assessment (“is $2,000 reasonable for a used 2019 Honda Civic?”)
• Decision support
  • Opinion and advice seeking (“should I get the Pro or the base model?”)
  • Use case validation (“is Notion overkill for personal to-do lists?”)
  • Risk and trade-off analysis (“fixed vs variable rate mortgage right now?”)
  • Timing decisions (“should I buy now or wait for Black Friday?”)
• Transaction support
  • How-to-buy guidance (“how do I purchase from this overseas site?”)
  • Deal and discount finding (“are there student discounts for Adobe?”)
  • Verification and legitimacy checking (“is this website legit?”)
• Post-purchase
  • Setup and onboarding (“how do I configure my new router?”)
  • Troubleshooting and diagnostics (“my new espresso machine is leaking”)
  • Returns and warranty queries (“how do I start a return with Amazon?”)
  • Maximizing value (“what features of Notion am I probably not using?”)

2. Outside Funnel

• Creation
  • Writing (drafting, editing, creative)
  • Documents and files (spreadsheets, presentations, templates)
  • Code (writing, debugging, architecture)
• Transformation
  • Summarization and extraction
  • Translation and language conversion
  • Reformatting and tone adjustment
• Analysis and reasoning
  • Data interpretation
  • Math and calculations
  • Non-commercial decision support (personal, ethical, philosophical)
• Learning
  • Concept explanations and tutoring
  • Skill practice and exam prep
• Planning and organization
  • Schedules, itineraries, routines
  • Project and goal planning
• Brainstorming and ideation
  • Idea generation
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Naming (non-commercial)
• Conversation
  • Emotional support and reflection
  • Casual chat and companionship
  • Roleplay and entertainment