Read AI responses & graphs
How to read AskPhi's text replies and the inline charts they sometimes include.
When you ask a question, AskPhi answers in text. When the answer benefits from visualization (totals, trends, breakdowns), AskPhi adds an inline chart rendered with Plotly. You don't have to ask for charts — but asking explicitly ("plot…", "show a bar chart of…") nudges the AI to include one.
Anatomy of an AI message
A message bubble may contain:
- Text — the AI's analysis or answer in plain English.
- Chart — an interactive Plotly chart (optional).
- Action row — thumbs-up, thumbs-down, and "regenerate" icons (under the text) for feedback on the reply.
Your messages always appear on the right; AI messages always appear on the left.
Chart types AskPhi can produce
| Chart type | Good for |
|---|---|
| Bar | Comparing categories (regions, products, months). |
| Line | Trends over time. |
| Area | Trends over time emphasizing volume. |
| Scatter | Correlations between two numeric columns. |
| Pie | Proportions or share of a total. |
When the dataset has many points, AskPhi may down-sample to keep the chart readable.
Interacting with a chart
Plotly's toolbar appears in the chart's top-right when you hover. You can:
- Zoom by clicking and dragging a region.
- Pan by switching to the pan tool.
- Hover over points to see exact values.
- Reset the view with the home icon.
- Toggle a series on or off by clicking its legend entry.
- Download a PNG of the chart with the camera icon.
What if the AI returns invalid data?
Very rarely the response can't be parsed. You'll see an "Invalid AI response format" message. When this happens:
- Click regenerate (the rotate icon under the message) to retry, or
- Send a follow-up message asking the AI to try again with simpler output.
Asking for specific charts
Phrases that nudge AskPhi toward charts:
- "Plot ... by ..."
- "Show a bar chart of ..."
- "Visualize the trend of ..."
- "Compare X across categories"
Phrases that get a text answer:
- "How many ..."
- "What is the average of ..."
- "List ..."
Troubleshooting
- The chart looks empty — your filter or column might be empty in the source data. Check the file in the data editor.
- The chart is too small — zoom your browser, or try the same question with "Show this as a full-width chart".
- Numbers in the chart don't match my CSV — AskPhi works with the rows it sees. If you've recently appended or edited rows, ask the same question again so the AI re-reads the data.