The BLOX Digital Assistant is available in Content Management / Editorial. Site administrators can turn it on from Content > AI Settings.

The assistant is designed to support human editorial judgment, not replace it. No content is published automatically, and all AI-generated suggestions require explicit user action to apply.

What The BLOX Digital Assistant Can Do

Within the article editor, the assistant supports:

• Generating and refining article content — body copy, headlines, summaries, and alternate ledes

  • "Write five headline options for this story"

  • "Draft a 300-word article from these notes: …"

  • "Give me two alternate ledes that open with the budget vote"

  • "Tighten the second paragraph"

  • “Apply changes” when prompted to automatically apply those updates to the appropriate sections, including metadata.

• Searching for related photos and articles within your instance of NXT

  • "Find photos about [your subject] for this article"

  • "Search for stories we've published on this topic in the last year"

• Inserting or associating assets to an article directly from the chat interface

  • "Insert the second photo inline after the second paragraph"

  • "Add the first article as a child"

• Answering questions about your content or navigating the system using natural language

  • "Give this article a bias score"

  • "What's the main point of this article in one sentence?"

  • "Which fields on this article are still empty?"

For a complete guide to interacting with the assistant — including commands, applying suggestions, and working with search results — see the full In-Editor Interaction Guide.

What the Assistant Can Access

The BLOX Digital Assistant works only with:

• The asset you're editing

• Text you type or paste into the chat, and files you attach

• Content in your own BLOX NXT instance, through search

It does not have internet access. It can't look up addresses, coordinates, websites, or current events.

Where It Appears

BLOX AI Chat currently appears inside the asset editor within Content Management. The assistant is accessed via a chat bubble in the editor interface and can be repositioned anywhere on screen.

Additional BLOX NXT applications are planned for future releases.

Access & Permissions

Enabling the BLOX Digital Assistant

The BLOX Digital Assistant is off by default. A site administrator with access to Content Management settings can turn it on for each site.

1. Go to Content > AI Settings.

2. Toggle on Enable Digital Assistant.

3. Reload any open editor tabs.

Once it's enabled, the chat bubble appears in the asset editor for users who have editing access on that site. When it's disabled, the chat bubble does not appear.

AI Settings apply only to the site you're viewing. If you manage multiple sites, enable the Assistant on each one.

Data Handling & Security

How Your Content Is Processed

When you interact with the BLOX Digital Assistant, your input and relevant article context are sent to an AI model to generate a response. This processing is transient — content is used only to fulfill the request in real time and is not stored, retained, or used to train AI models.

BLOX AI Chat is currently powered by a BLOX-managed AI model. The specific model provider may change over time, but BLOX's data handling commitments remain consistent regardless of the underlying model.

Access Controls

The assistant only has access to content and actions available within your active session in BLOX NXT. It operates within the same role-based permissions already governing your account — users cannot interact with content they are not authorized to view or edit.

Security Framework

BLOX AI Chat follows BLOX's existing platform security standards, including role-based access control, scoped permissions, and secure API communication. The assistant is intentionally constrained to predefined actions and workflows within BLOX NXT and does not have unrestricted system access.

Known Limitations

• Available in Content Management / Editorial only.

• AI responses may be inconsistent and are not guaranteed to be accurate. Always review suggestions before applying them.

• Access is controlled at the site level. It can't currently be limited to specific roles or users.

• Performance depends in part on third-party AI provider availability.

How To

Interact with the BLOX Digital Assistant

The BLOX Digital Assistant is not open by default and must be manually activated by the user.

Activating the Assistant

• The assistant is launched by selecting the chat assistant entry point within the editor UI.

• Once activated, the chat panel opens and remains associated with the current article or asset being edited.

• Closing the panel hides the assistant but does not automatically reset the conversation.

Conversation Behavior

• Conversations persist per article or asset, allowing context to carry over while editing the same item.

• To start a new conversation, select the clear/reset conversation icon located at the top of the chat panel, next to the close button.

• Resetting the conversation clears prior chat history while keeping the assistant open.

Movable Chat Interface

• The chat bubble at the bottom of the screen is drag-and-droppable.

• Editors can reposition the assistant anywhere on the screen to avoid overlapping content or tools.

• The assistant remains fully functional regardless of placement.

Input Methods

• Users can interact with the assistant using standard text input.

• Microphone input is available, allowing users to dictate questions or commands.

• All input methods support the same natural language and command-based interactions.

This interaction model ensures the BLOX Digital Assistant is available on demand while remaining unobtrusive to the core editing workflow.

Review and Apply Suggested Drafts

• Ask the BLOX Digital Assistant to generate content (for example, article body, headlines, or summaries).

• The assistant displays suggestions directly in chat, each labeled with a numeric identifier (#1–#10).

• Issue a command such as:

  • "Apply #2"

  • "Use headline 3"

  • "Insert the first summary"

• The assistant updates the corresponding field in the article editor.

• A confirmation message appears in chat (for example, "Headline updated to: …").

• The updated field is briefly highlighted in the editor for visual feedback.

Generate Summaries or Variations

Reporters can quickly get suggested alternate versions of content from the same article, including:

• Shortened versions

• Social media summaries

• Alternate ledes or headlines

Example commands:

• "Summarize this for social"

• "Make a shorter version for newsletter use"

• "Create two alternate summaries"

Each variation is numbered and can be applied or inserted using follow-up commands.

Find Related Photos

Users can ask the BLOX Digital Assistant to locate relevant photos for the current article, such as:

• "Can you search for related photos that would make sense to add to this article?"

The assistant queries internal CMS search services using article context (headline, tags, and body) and returns relevant photo assets inline in chat.

Suggest Related Articles

Editors can request recommendations for additional reading or future assignments, such as:

• "Can you search for related articles to assign for further reading?"

• "Search for stories that have covered this topic before."

Results include article headlines, publish dates, source sites, and links for preview or assignment consideration.

Inserting and Viewing Assets from AI-Assisted Search Results

When the BLOX Digital Assistant returns results from an internal CMS search, each result is presented as a rich snippet with contextual metadata and available actions. These actions allow users to insert, associate, or view assets directly from the chat interface without leaving the editor.

Each rich snippet may include the asset title or headline, asset type (such as photo, video, article, audio, or file), thumbnail or preview (when available), source site, publish date, and a More actions menu.

Available actions include:

• Insert Inline

• Add to Children

• Add to Parents

• Add to Siblings

• Preview

• Live View

Once an insert or relationship action is selected, the CMS applies the change immediately and the assistant confirms the action in chat (for example, "Asset added inline to the article body.").

FAQ

How does the BLOX Digital Assistant know which suggestion I'm referring to?

The assistant tracks conversational context. If a command like "Apply #3" follows a list of headline suggestions, it assumes the reference applies to that list. If multiple lists are active, the assistant will ask for clarification. You may occasionally need to clear the conversation to ensure the most accurate results.

What commands are supported?

The assistant supports both numeric and natural language commands, including contextual references like "the shorter one" or "that option," and recognizes commands case-insensitively.

Can I undo an AI-applied change?

Yes. You can say "Undo last change" to revert one of the most recent assistant-applied updates. If undo is unavailable, the assistant will notify you. You can also use the Undo/Redo options from the formatting palette.

What happens if I don't have permission to edit?

Access to edit an article is not permitted unless you have the appropriate permission.

How are related assets ranked?

When possible, the assistant uses contextual similarity (headline, body, and named entities) to rank assets.

Is the BLOX Digital Assistant designed to replace human editors or make publishing decisions automatically?

No. The BLOX Digital Assistant is a support tool purpose-built into the editorial workflow to enhance your content. All AI activity is overseen by humans. It is never given an automatic or authorial role, and no automatic publishing or decision-making occurs.

Can the BLOX Digital Assistant create new content, or does it only refine existing text?

The BLOX Digital Assistant can assist in both areas. It can refine existing material (like summarizing or rephrasing) by grounding suggestions in your existing editorial content. Additionally, it can draft new content from scratch based on a prompt.

If the BLOX Digital Assistant generates content, is it applied to the editor immediately?

No. Content generated by the assistant — whether a headline suggestion or a full draft — is always surfaced as a suggestion only. Content is applied to the editor only with your explicit action.

How does BLOX ensure the privacy and security of my content?

The BLOX Digital Assistant is designed to operate within strict privacy and security boundaries. It only has access to the content, context, and actions explicitly made available within a user's active session in BLOX NXT. Content is processed transiently to generate responses and is not used to train or improve AI models. Access to data follows the same permissions and role-based controls already in place across the BLOX platform.

What AI model powers BLOX AI Chat?

The BLOX Digital Assistant is powered by a BLOX-managed AI model. The provider may change over time, but BLOX's data handling commitments stay the same.

How does the BLOX Digital Assistant prevent generating false or offensive content?

The assistant is guided by structured prompts, contextual constraints, and predefined actions that limit how and where it can generate responses. It does not generate content autonomously without user input or context. Safeguards are in place to reduce hallucinations and inappropriate output by anchoring responses to user-provided content, editorial workflows, and clear task boundaries. The assistant is designed to support human editorial judgment rather than replace it.

How do I get access to BLOX AI Chat?

A site administrator can turn it on under Content > AI Settings > Enable Digital Assistant. See Access & Permissions above.

Can the Assistant look things up online?

No. It doesn't have internet access. If you need it to work with outside information, such as an address, a statistic, or a quote, paste that information into the chat.

The Assistant answered a factual question. Can I trust it?

Only if the answer comes from your article or information you provided. For anything else, verify it with a reliable source before publishing.

What should I do if a response is wrong?

Don't apply it. Nothing the Assistant suggests changes your asset until you apply it. You can ask it to try again, rephrase your request, or clear the conversation to start fresh.

Is there an additional cost?

There's no additional charge for the BLOX Digital Assistant at this time.

We were part of the beta. Do we need to do anything?

No. Sites that had beta access have the new setting turned on automatically, so your users keep access.

I turned on the setting but don't see the Assistant.

Reload the editor. Pages that were open before the setting changed won't show the chat bubble until they're refreshed. Also confirm you enabled it on the correct site, since AI Settings apply to one site at a time.

Can I limit the Assistant to certain users or roles?

Not currently. When it's enabled, it's available to all users who can edit assets on that site.

What's the difference between the Digital Assistant and AI Suggestions?

AI Suggestions provides one-click suggestions for headlines, summaries, and metadata from within the editor. The Digital Assistant is a chat you open to draft content, apply changes to fields, and search for related photos and articles. They're controlled separately.

Can we connect our own AI provider?

Not at this time.