Customizing the Open Assist Element

The Open Assist element is a text area question with an AI prompt that encourages the participant to add more details to their answer. The AI prompt uses Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service to respond to the participant. The Open Assist element uses the <textarea> question with the attribute uses="assist.1".

Important: The Open Assist element must be enabled for your company prior to use. If you're interested in using this element, contact your Forsta representative.

Note: Decipher has various AI features that rely on AI Models. New versions of these models are frequently released and older versions are retired. When new models are used, there may be variances in responses based on the newer models.

See Open Assist Element to add the Open Assist element using the Survey Editor.

1:  Adding an Open Assist Element

To add an Open Assist element in the XML Editor, first create a textarea question in the desired location. Then add uses="assist.1" to the question tag, following the below syntax:

<textarea
  label="q1"
  uses="assist.1">
  <title>Tell us your feedback about Forsta Surveys</title>
</textarea>

2:  Customizable Attributes

All attributes available for this element are listed in the table below. Set these options manually to create a custom look and feel for your Media Testimonial element, or to change its functionality.

Each attribute must be prepended with assist:, as shown in this example:

<textarea
  label="q1" 
  assist:context="${p.context}"
  uses="assist.1">
  <title>Tell us your feedback about Forsta Surveys</title>
</textarea>

Attribute	Default	Options	Description
delay	1000	integer	The number of milliseconds to wait after the participant stops typing before the survey requests a response from OpenAI. Both min and delay must be met before the survey requests a response from OpenAI. 1000 milliseconds is equal to 1 second.
context		pipeable	Additional text sent to OpenAI to provide context about the participant. This will improve the questions that OpenAI asks the participant. Decipher recommends staying under 100 words to reduce costs. You can pipe text into this field. For example, you can create an Exec Tag with the phrase p.context = ("The user used the 'Forsta Surveys' market research product, " "spent most of their time in the %s module, and rated their " "experience as: %s") % (q0.selected.text, q00.selected.text) and pipe that into the context field using ${p.context}. The % (q0.selected.text, q00.selected.text) pipes the answer selected in q0 and q1 into the appropriate locations in the context phrase in the order listed.
prompts	3	integer	The number of times per participant that the survey question requests a response from OpenAI. If the max has already been reached, the survey will not request a response from OpenAI even if the maximum prompts has not been reached.
min	20	integer	The minimum number of characters a participant must type before the survey requests a response from OpenAI. Both min and delay must be met before the survey requests a response from OpenAI. Note: min does not prevent the question from being skipped. Use the verify attribute to require a minimum number of characters in the response.
max	100	integer	The maximum number of characters a participant must type for the survey to stop requesting a response from OpenAI. If the maximum prompts has already been reached, the survey will not request a response from OpenAI even if the max has not been reached. Note: max does not limit the number of characters included in the response. Use the verify attribute to limit the number of characters in the participant's response.
personality	empathetic		The default AI personality is “empathetic”. Changing it may entice younger respondents to answer more fully. You may need to add context to improve the responses provided by OpenAI. Example responses to a participant answer (where the Forsta Surveys Crosstabs experience was rated: performance: 1 out of 5, usability: 3 out of 5, features: 5 out of 5) for each personality are provided below. empathetic: What specific aspects did you find unsatisfactory about the Crosstabs reporting module? energetic: That's very clear! Can you share what specific aspects you found most disappointing, especially regarding the low performance rating? direct: Given your overall dissatisfaction, can you elaborate on what specifically contributed to your low rating on performance despite a high rating on features? playful: Oh dear, “did not like” sounds a bit gloomy! 🌧 Can you sprinkle in a bit more detail about what specifically didn’t tickle your fancy? Was it the performance that felt like a slow snail, or did the usability leave you scratching your head? 🐌💭 funny: Oh, a glowing review! It sounds like Forsta Surveys really knocked your socks off—about as much as a wet sock in a puddle. Can you share what specific features you loved, considering you rated them a perfect 5?
debug	0	boolean	When set to 1, the intermediate user input and AI prompt will be saved in an additional hidden text question. (If your DQ is applied to a question labeled q1, the debug will be saved in question q1_debug). This will increase data size but not incur costs and can be useful to see whether the AI assist is having a positive effect.
atleast	Please provide a minimum of $(min) characters in your answer. (You have typed $(count)).		Displayed when the participant has typed less than the min number of characters and more than 0 characters. The piped field $(min) is replaced with the min value. The piped field $(count) is replaced with the number of characters typed by the participant. Message is displayed after waiting the milliseconds specified in delay.
thanks	Thanks for your feedback!		Displayed when the participant has typed at least the max number of characters.
asking	Conferring with AI...		Displayed while waiting for the OpenAI response.
arrived	Please provide any additional feedback.		Displayed above the OpenAI response when the OpenAI response is displayed.
waiting	Please provide a minimum of $(min) characters in your answer.		Displayed before the participant begins typing in the field. The piped field $(min) is replaced with the min value.
stop	User is typing...		Displayed while the participant is typing in the field, and until the number of milliseconds specified in delay is reached.

To see general attributes for textarea elements, see TextArea Question Attributes.

3: Open Assist in Context (Putting it Together)

The following is an example of how to use participant answers to previous questions to provide context to the AI prompt.

In this example, two one-dimensional single select elements and a Language Selector Element are on the page prior to the Open Assist Element. The Language Selector element controls the language of the OpenAI response. After a <suspend/> tag, responses from the two Single Select elements are piped into the <exec> tag using Python. The content of the <exec>tag is then is piped into the assist:context attribute of the Open Assist element (<textarea uses="assist.1">) .

<radio 
  label="q0">
  <title>What part of Forsta Surveys did you use today?</title>
  <comment><strong>Note:</strong>
      This value will be piped as part of the AI prompt context.

    </comment>
  <row label="r1">Reporting</row>
  <row label="r2">Research Dashboard</row>
  <row label="r3">Survey Builder</row>
  <row label="r4">Data Downloads</row>
</radio>

<radio 
  label="q00">
  <title>How was your experience?</title>
  <comment><strong>Note:</strong>
      This value will be piped as part of the AI prompt context.
    </comment>
  <row label="r1">Great</row>
  <row label="r2">Good</row>
  <row label="r3">Horrible</row>
</radio>

<radio 
  label="qlang"
  cond="0"
  uses="languageselector.2">
  <title>Select a language</title>
  <comment>strong>Note:</strong>
      The language will determine AI feedback given.
    </comment>
</radio>

<suspend/>

<exec>
p.context = ("The user used the 'Forsta Surveys' market research product, "
		"spent most of their time in the %s module, and rated their "
		"experience as: %s") % (q0.selected.text, q00.selected.text)
</exec>

<textarea 
  label="q1"
  assist:context="${p.context}"
  assist:debug="1"
  uses="assist.1">
    <title>Tell us your feedback about Forsta Surveys</title>
</textarea>

<suspend/>	

When the participant sees this question, and replies to it, OpenAI will use the assist:context to create specific questions regarding the part of Forsta Surveys the participant used.

4: Data Privacy

• The OpenAI service is part of Forsta's Azure subscription. Once data has been submitted to Azure, it is governed by their data policy.

• No data is stored elsewhere and only participant response data and prompts are submitted. We do not include any metadata.

• Your prompts and participant responses:

• are NOT available to other customers.

• are NOT available to OpenAI.

• are NOT used for training (including improvement of OpenAI models, any Microsoft or 3rd party products or services, etc.)

• For Decipher servers hosted in EU, Regional Azure OpenAI installations are used. The data is routed to the OpenAI installation in Stockholm, Sweden. For non-EU installations, global deployment of OpenAI means it is processed in the nearest available node.

• Data stored on the Decipher side:

• follows standard Decipher data retention and security including encryption at rest

• logging for OpenAI service (such as request and response) is retained for 5 weeks separate from the retention for the survey data

• ISO certification notes: Microsoft Azure undergoes ISO/IEC 27017 audit for compliance. You can download the list of certifications undergone by it on the Microsoft portal: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/cloud-services-in-audit-scope

• Third party: Data sent to Azure OpenAI is retained by Azure only for abuse monitoring, if certain indicators trigger possible abuse attempts; see the Data Privacy note for Azure OpenAI above

• Data Flow: