Answer Review & Sources
What it is
Three small tools that work together to keep the AI's answers correct:
- Sources. A button on every AI reply that shows which parts of your knowledge base the answer was based on.
- Feedback. A thumbs-up and thumbs-down on every AI reply, for your team.
- Answer review. A page that collects every answer your team marked as wrong, so you can fix what caused it.
The problem it solves
An AI answer is only as good as the content behind it. When a customer gets a wrong price, the real fault is usually one outdated sentence in one document. Without help, finding that sentence means searching every document by hand. Most teams never do it, so the same wrong answer keeps going out.
These tools close that loop:
- You can see the cause. Sources takes you from a wrong answer to the exact passage in one click.
- Anyone on the team can report it. An agent who notices a wrong answer gives it a thumbs-down. They do not need to know how the knowledge base is organised.
- Nothing is forgotten. Reported answers wait in one list until someone marks them resolved.
How it works
When the AI answers, Threadline remembers which chunks it used. That record powers the Sources button.
When someone gives a thumbs-down, Threadline saves the customer's question, the AI's answer and its sources together, and adds them to the Answer review list. A number next to Answer review in the sidebar shows how many are waiting.
1. Seeing where an answer came from
- Open a conversation in the Inbox.
- Under an AI reply, click Sources.
- You see "This answer was based on", followed by the passages it used.
- Click a passage to open that chunk in the editor.
The Playground shows the same thing, with a link on each retrieved chunk.
2. Marking an answer good or bad
Under an AI reply in the Inbox:
- Thumbs-up (Good answer). Kept as a record. It does not go to the review list.
- Thumbs-down (Bad answer). A small box asks "What was wrong?". You can type a short note, such as "Out of date" or "Wrong price". This is optional. Click Send to review.
Changed your mind? Click Take back to remove your feedback.
Customers never see these buttons or what you wrote.
3. Working through Answer review
Open Answer review in the navigation. Each item shows:
- The customer asked: the question.
- The AI answered: the reply that was marked wrong.
- It was based on: the sources. If it says "Nothing in the knowledge base", the AI had no content for this question.
For each item, choose what fits:
| Button | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Edit chunk | The source has a wrong or old fact. Fix the text. |
| Add document | Nothing covered this question. Add content that does. |
| Open conversation | You want to read the full chat first. |
| Mark resolved | You have fixed it. The item leaves the list. |
After fixing, try the same question in the Playground to confirm the new answer.
4. Showing sources to customers
By default, customers do not see where an answer came from. To show them:
- Go to Settings → Workspace.
- Turn on Name the source in the AI's replies.
- Save.
From then on, an answer taken from your knowledge base ends with "Source: " and the title of the document. This can build trust, because customers see that the answer comes from your official content. Give your documents clear titles before turning it on, because customers will read them.
Good to know
- Both Admins and Agents can give feedback and work through the review list.
- Sources are shown only for AI replies. Messages written by a person have none.
- Marking an item resolved does not change anything by itself. Fix the content first.
Common questions
The list is empty. Nobody has given a thumbs-down yet. That is a good sign, but ask your team to use the button when they see a wrong answer.
An answer has no sources. The AI did not find anything in the knowledge base, so it used its "I don't have enough information" reply.
Should I mark every imperfect answer? Mark the ones that are wrong or missing something important. That keeps the list short enough to finish.