AI assistant
Chat with Public AI from a dedicated tab on web and Android, with saved conversation history.
Public AI is Public's built-in assistant — similar to a dedicated AI tab on other social apps. You get a focused chat experience with conversation history, so you can start new threads or return to earlier ones.
For custom AI personas created by you or others, see AI characters.
Open Public AI
On the web
- Tap AI in the mobile bottom tab bar, or choose Public AI from the sidebar or menu.
- You'll land on
/aiwith your chat history in the sidebar. - Tap New chat (plus button) to start a fresh thread, or open an existing conversation from the list.
On Android
- Tap the AI tab in the bottom navigation bar.
- Your past Public AI conversations appear in a list.
- Tap Start chatting or the floating New chat button to begin. Tap any row to reopen that thread.
Conversation history
Each chat with Public AI is saved as its own thread:
- New chat creates a separate conversation (with a greeting from Public AI).
- The sidebar or list shows previews of your threads; titles use your first message or the chat date.
- You can delete a thread you no longer need; this removes those messages from your account.
Public AI uses the same daily message quotas as other AI character chats. See Subscriptions for plan limits.
Custom assistant characters
You can still browse and chat with AI characters from Explore or the AI Characters link in the menu. To designate one character as a personal shortcut assistant, use Set as assistant on their profile — that is separate from the platform Public AI tab.
Agent actions
Public AI can take action on your behalf when you ask — similar to an AI agent. It can:
- Social: search users and communities, create posts, polls, quizzes, and questions, follow or unfollow users, block or unblock users, join communities, create pages, and send direct messages
- Todos: manage personal todos and group todo lists (create groups, add tasks, complete tasks)
- Time tools: start personal timers (e.g. Pomodoro), manage counters, and work with group time tools (shared timers and counters)
- Scheduling: schedule a post to publish later
How actions work
- You ask in chat (e.g. "Create a poll about coffee" or "Start a 25-minute Pomodoro").
- Public AI may search or list information automatically.
- For actions that change your account (create, follow, block, send, etc.), a confirmation card appears in the chat.
- Tap Confirm to run the action, or Cancel to dismiss it.
- Sensitive actions like blocking a user show a warning and explain side effects (unfollow, hide content).
Read-only lookups (search, list todos, list timers) run immediately without a confirmation step.
Agent tool examples
Below are example prompts you can type in Public AI chat. Each maps to an agent tool on the backend. Tools marked Confirm show a confirmation card before anything changes on your account.
Search and discovery (instant)
| Tool | Example prompt |
|---|---|
search_users | "Find users named Alex" · "Search for @janedoe" |
search_communities | "Search for tech communities" · "Find communities about photography" |
search_posts | "Search posts about Kotlin" · "Find poll posts about coffee" |
list_my_communities | "What communities have I joined?" · "List my communities" |
list_my_pages | "Show my pages" · "What pages do I own?" |
list_blocked_users | "Who have I blocked?" · "List blocked users" |
Profile and notifications (instant)
| Tool | Example prompt |
|---|---|
get_my_profile | "What's on my profile?" · "Summarize my account" |
get_notifications_summary | "Do I have unread notifications?" · "Show my recent notifications" |
Posts (Confirm)
| Tool | Example prompt |
|---|---|
create_text_post | "Post: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!" · "Share this on my public feed: Hello world!" |
create_poll | "Create a poll: What's your favorite programming language? Options: Python, JavaScript, Rust, Go" |
create_quiz | "Create a quiz about world capitals with 3 multiple-choice questions" |
create_question | "Post a question: What's the best way to learn Android development?" |
schedule_post | "Schedule a post for tomorrow at 9am: Good morning everyone!" · "Schedule this for 2026-06-10T14:00:00Z: Launch day!" |
Posts go to your public feed unless you name a community. To post inside a community, ask Public AI to find the community first, then say e.g. "Post this in the Dev community: …"
Social actions (Confirm)
| Tool | Example prompt |
|---|---|
follow_user | "Follow Alex" (after a user search) · "Follow the user you just found" |
unfollow_user | "Unfollow Alex" |
block_user | "Block @spammer" — shows a warning about unfollowing and hiding content |
unblock_user | "Unblock Alex" |
join_community | "Join the Photography community" (after searching communities) |
send_message | "Message Alex: Hey, are you free tomorrow?" |
create_community | "Create a community called Book Club with slug book-club" |
create_page | "Create a page called My Studio with slug my-studio" |
Personal todos
| Tool | Example prompt | Confirm? |
|---|---|---|
list_my_todos | "List my todos" · "Show pending tasks" · "Search todos for barcode" | No |
create_todo | "Add a todo: Fix login bug" · "Create task Review PR with description Check Android build" | Yes |
update_todo | "Rename todo 100110 to Products not showing in app" | Yes |
complete_todo | "Mark todo 100110 as complete" · "Complete my task about barcode search" | Yes |
Todo lists show pending and completed sections (up to 50 each). Use a task ID (e.g. 100110) when completing or updating a specific item.
Group todos
| Tool | Example prompt | Confirm? |
|---|---|---|
list_todo_groups | "What todo groups am I in?" | No |
list_group_todos | "List todos in my Team Sprint group" | No |
create_todo_group | "Create a todo group called Home Renovation" | Yes |
add_user_to_todo_group | "Add Alex to the Home Renovation todo group" | Yes |
create_group_todo | "Add a group task in Team Sprint: Deploy staging" | Yes |
update_group_todo | "Update the deploy task in Team Sprint" | Yes |
complete_group_todo | "Complete the deploy task in Team Sprint" | Yes |
Personal time tools
| Tool | Example prompt | Confirm? |
|---|---|---|
get_timer_presets | "What timer modes are available?" | No |
list_my_timers | "Show my active timers" · "List my timers" | No |
list_my_counters | "What counters do I have?" | No |
get_time_history | "Show my time tools history" | No |
start_timer | "Start a 25-minute Pomodoro" · "Start a 5-minute break timer" | Yes |
pause_timer | "Pause my Pomodoro timer" | Yes |
complete_timer | "Complete my focus timer" | Yes |
cancel_timer | "Cancel my current timer" | Yes |
create_counter | "Create a counter called Push-ups with target 100" | Yes |
increment_counter | "Increment my push-ups counter by 10" | Yes |
reset_counter | "Reset my water counter" | Yes |
Group time tools
| Tool | Example prompt | Confirm? |
|---|---|---|
list_time_groups | "What time groups am I in?" | No |
get_time_group | "Show details for my Study Buddies time group" | No |
list_group_timers | "List timers in Study Buddies" | No |
list_group_counters | "Show counters in Study Buddies" | No |
get_group_time_history | "Show time history for Study Buddies" | No |
create_time_group | "Create a time group called Study Buddies" | Yes |
add_user_to_time_group | "Add Alex to Study Buddies" | Yes |
remove_user_from_time_group | "Remove Alex from Study Buddies" | Yes |
start_group_timer | "Start a 25-minute Pomodoro in Study Buddies" | Yes |
pause_group_timer | "Pause the group timer in Study Buddies" | Yes |
complete_group_timer | "Complete the group timer" | Yes |
cancel_group_timer | "Cancel the group timer in Study Buddies" | Yes |
create_group_counter | "Create a group counter called Team push-ups in Study Buddies" | Yes |
increment_group_counter | "Add 5 to the team push-ups counter" | Yes |
reset_group_counter | "Reset the team push-ups counter" | Yes |
Multi-step examples
Public AI often chains a read tool first, then a write tool:
- Follow someone: "Find users named Maria" → then "Follow her"
- Message someone: "Search for Alex Chen" → "Send Alex a message: Thanks for the help!"
- Group todo: "List my todo groups" → "Add a task in Team Sprint: Write docs"
- Community post: "List my communities" → "Post in Dev community: Ship day!"
Tips
- Confirmation cards appear for create, follow, block, send, timer start, and similar actions. Tap Confirm or Cancel.
- IDs matter for follow, message, join, and group actions. Public AI finds IDs from search/list results in the same conversation — you usually refer to people or groups by name.
- Plan limits still apply (posts per day, AI messages, communities owned, etc.). See Subscriptions.
- Block user is sensitive: Public AI warns you before confirming.
- Up to 3 pending write actions can be staged in a single turn.
What it remembers
Public AI uses its built-in assistant personality plus the messages in the current thread to shape replies. For agent actions it uses your account permissions and plan limits (posts per day, communities owned, etc.).
Privacy
Messages with Public AI are stored as regular character conversations under your account. You can delete individual threads like any other AI chat.