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PRACTICAL GUIDE · Knowledge & RAG

Handling questions with no supporting source

An assistant should have a useful response when the knowledge base cannot answer. A clear gap report is better than an invented policy.

A practical starting point

Work through these checks in order. Use the results to decide what needs to change in your own workflow.

  1. Define how unsupported questions are recognized and handled.
  2. Explain what information is missing without pretending certainty.
  3. Offer an escalation route or a request for clarification.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE

A question about an unannounced service should be routed to its owner rather than answered from similar historical offerings.

A mistake to avoid

Do not force the model to produce a definitive answer for every input.

How to check progress

Track unanswered-question categories to guide legitimate knowledge improvements.

Your action checklist

Use this checklist while reviewing your own setup. Checkmarks are temporary and stay in this open page.

Need the wider workflow?

This quick note covers one decision. For a worked example, decision table and a fuller implementation workflow, read When retrieval is the right addition to an AI assistant.

Further reading

Official background resources for this topic. The workflow above is general guidance, not a guarantee of a particular result.

AI-assisted editorial content. Examples are illustrative, not client case studies. Read our editorial policy or report a correction.