What is a knowledge base?
A knowledge base is the set of documents an assistant is allowed to treat as true for your business: SOPs, prices, FAQs, and policies, kept current.
Also called: wiki, help center
In plain English
It can be a Notion workspace, a Drive folder, or a help center. The assistant is only as current as that pile. One owner, a shared inbox, and three outdated Google Docs is a knowledge base whether you meant it or not. A knowledge base rots from the edges: the holiday hours, the old coupon, the technician who quit. Put an owner on each page and a review month. When the assistant quotes a page, you should be able to find that page in under a minute. If you cannot, the base is a junk drawer and the assistant will sound like one. When staff correct the assistant out loud, write the correction into the page the same day or the correction dies in the air.
How an owner would use it
Pick one home for official docs. Name an owner for each page. When a rule changes, change the page the same day. Point the assistant at that home and nowhere else.
Common mistakes
Three drives and a group text are not a knowledge base, even if an assistant can see all of them. A wiki or help center is this same pile with a front door. The mistake is connecting the assistant before you pick the one official home and a person who updates it. Do not upload HR files 'just in case' next to customer FAQs. Do not let two copies of the price list both be official.
A worked example
A plumbing company
The SOP library is the brain
This is an illustration, not a customer result. Dispatch answers from the Notion SOP library: what to ask, how to book, when to escalate. Old prices live in a folder the assistant cannot see. The weekly SOP review updates one page when a job went wrong.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is a knowledge base?
A knowledge base is the maintained set of documents your team and your AI tools use as the source for how the business works.
How do I build one for an AI assistant?
Start with the SOPs you already need for a new hire. Keep them short, current, and in one place. Connect the assistant to that place only.
How is a knowledge base different from memory?
The knowledge base is documents you maintain on purpose. Memory is notes the product saved from chats. You can edit a page in the knowledge base and know what changed. Memory is harder to see and easier to get wrong.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.