Summary
Requesting the ability to have web search available in Glean Assistant (Chat) but turned off by default globally, so that it must be explicitly enabled by a user on a per-query basis.
Problem / Justification
Right now, web search in Glean Assistant is controlled as a single global on/off setting. Once enabled, any Assistant query can potentially send data to the web, depending on how the Assistant decides to fulfill the request.
For many organizations, this creates tension between capability and control:
- Some teams want the power of web search but are not comfortable with it being “always on” once enabled.
- Admins may want to minimize the risk of accidentally sending sensitive or internal context to external web sources, even if the overall feature is allowed.
- Users may feel more comfortable if they can consciously opt in to web search on a specific question, instead of relying on a global configuration.
Without a per-query opt-in model, admins have only two choices today:
- Disable web search entirely, losing useful external context.
- Enable web search globally, accepting that it can be used on any query, even when a user might not explicitly want that behavior.
Proposed Solution
Introduce per-query web search toggling with configurable defaults, separating:
- Global Availability – Whether web search is available at all in Glean Assistant.
- Default Behavior – Whether web search is on or off by default for each new query.
Concretely:
- Global setting (admin-level):
- Enable/disable web search as a capability for the organization.
- Default state (admin-level):
- When web search is enabled, allow admins to set “web search off by default” for all users and all new queries.
- Per-query toggle (end-user level):
- For any individual question in Glean Assistant, show a clear toggle/checkbox/switch for “Use web search for this question”.
- The default state of this toggle respects the admin-configured default (e.g., off by default).
- Users can explicitly toggle it on for that one query when they want external context.
Optionally, this could be extended with:
- Per-user preference:
- Allow users (within admin-defined bounds) to pick their own default (e.g., “I always want web search off unless I turn it on” vs. “I usually want it on”).
- Clear UX indicators:
- Visual and textual indicators when a given query is using web search vs. only internal sources.
Benefits
- Stronger privacy and data governance
Ensures that sending query context to the web is an explicit, deliberate action by the user on each query, not just an implicit consequence of a global toggle. - Better alignment with least-privilege / least-exposure principles
Even when web search is available, most queries can remain internal-only by default, reducing exposure surface. - Improved user trust and control
Users can see and decide, on each question, whether they want external web context involved, which can increase trust in Glean Assistant’s behavior. - Flexible configuration for different orgs and teams
Admins can enable the feature globally (so it exists), while still maintaining a conservative default (off per query), which is often required by security, legal, or compliance teams.
Relevant Context
This request pertains specifically to web search behavior in Glean Assistant (Chat) and how external web calls are triggered for user queries. The core goal is to keep the feature available while giving organizations and end users a safer, more explicit opt-in model via:
- A global setting controlling availability of web search as a capability.
- A global default that leaves web search off by default for each query.
- A per-query toggle allowing users to turn web search on for individual questions when needed.
This does not specifically pertain to (Actions) or (Agents) capability where a web search would be explicitly built/added by the user at a specific step.
