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Bower is the AI assistant built into your workspace. It can read, search, create and organize your notes, collections and attachments, and search the literature and the web. Every answer cites its sources.

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What Bower can do

When you save an ORCID iD in chat, Bower checks it against ORCID’s public record, the same check the Profile tab runs, and replies with the name it found so you can confirm it’s yours. With an iD saved, Bower draws on your publication list when you ask about your own work. When a captured value falls outside the expected range for a protocol parameter, Bower flags it after capture, explains why, and asks what you’d like to do. The Public sources switch in the connector picker turns all public sources off for every message until you turn it back on.

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Citations

Bower places a numbered marker such as [1] after each claim it draws from a source. Click the marker for the source details. A collapsible Sources section at the end of each reply lists every source used:
  • Workspace sources link to the notes, protocols or attachments Bower used.
  • Web sources show the page title and site icon, and link to the article, paper or record.

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How to use Bower

Bower chat is in the right-hand panel. Ask in plain language. To focus Bower on particular items, select notes or collections as context chips before you ask. While Bower works, a line above the reply describes what it is doing, such as Searching notes… or Looking up your publications on ORCID…, so you can tell whether it is still searching or waiting on an outside service.

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Attaching files

Attach a file to a message with the paperclip button, by dropping it on the chat input, or by pasting it, for example a screenshot. Attached files show as chips above the input; remove one with its ×. Each file goes with that message only. Bower accepts documents, images, spreadsheets, PDFs and research code, including .R, .Rmd, .jl and .do scripts. If a file is too large or of a type Bower can’t read, a message names the file and the reason, and the rest still attach. A .csv or .xlsx file becomes a spreadsheet that Bower can answer questions about in the same message. A photo of a gel, plate or instrument display can go straight into the chat without saving it first. A table copied out of a document pastes as text, not as an attachment; to have Bower read a table, attach the file or a photo of it.

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Voice dictation

Tap the microphone button in the chat input to dictate, then tap stop, review the text and send. In Chrome, Safari and Edge, the text appears as you speak. In Firefox, it appears shortly after you stop. If your browser doesn’t support voice input, the button isn’t shown. For a spoken back-and-forth with video, use live agent mode on your phone or Bower Glasses.

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What Bower won’t do

  • Act on your data without permission. It suggests; you confirm.
  • Present AI-extracted values as verified fact. It shows confidence where relevant.
  • Interrupt a capture in progress. It waits until you’ve stopped recording before offering observations.

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When Bower withholds a source

In chat, when Bower searches the web, opens a web page, reads a file from your workspace or opens a document from a connected app, it first checks the text for instructions aimed at the assistant, such as hidden text telling it to ignore your request or send your notes elsewhere. If it finds any, Bower doesn’t use that source. It tells you the source was blocked by its content safety check and answers from everything else. Your own notes and protocols, files you attach directly to a message, and live agent mode aren’t checked. The check catches most such instructions, not every one, so read what Bower reports from an outside source with the care you would give the source itself. Now and then a legitimate source is blocked, most often a page that quotes such instructions, like an article about AI security. If you need it, open the source yourself and paste the parts you need into the chat, and use the thumbs down on the reply to tell us. Use search to find a note or file you know exists. Use Bower to answer a question, summarize, compare, research the literature, or make changes, with an answer that cites its sources. To rate a reply, use the thumbs up or down beneath it; see Feedback.