Copy.ai Chat is your AI-powered thinking partner for brainstorming, strategy, and quick content tasks. Unlike a basic chatbot, Copy.ai Chat gives you access to multiple leading AI models in one secure interface—without any of your data being used to train those models.
In this customer Office Hours session, we walked through the fundamentals of Chat, from creating your first conversation to configuring brand voices and knowing when to use Chat versus other Copy.ai tools. Click on the timestamps below to jump to each video section, or refer to the corresponding section below for a summary.
Note
To review the slides for this session, download them here.
Section Timestamps
Creating a New Chat & Organizing with Folders [3:33]
The Prompt Library: Pre-Built & Custom Prompts [6:10]
Using the Improve Button for Better Prompts [9:58]
Choosing the Right LLM (Model Agnostic) [11:51]
Configuring Brand Voice [13:04]
Using Infobase for Persistent Context [17:12]
Editing Outputs with the Inline Editor [20:06]
When to Use Chat vs. Workflows vs. Content Agents [23:59]
Creating a New Chat & Organizing with Folders [3:33]
There are multiple ways to start a new chat from the Copy.ai dashboard:
Left sidebar: Click the plus icon to start a new chat immediately.
Chat dashboard: Click Create New Chat at the top.
Home tab: Click Create New in the top-right corner, then select Chat.
Each chat is automatically saved with a date and "Untitled" label. Rename your chats (e.g., "Content Ideas for April 2026") to keep things organized and searchable.
Team Spaces vs. Personal Space
You can work in a Personal space where only you and workspace admins can see your chats, or in a Team Space where colleagues can view and collaborate. This transparency helps teams share successful prompts and maintain consistent outputs.
Folders
Create folders to organize chats by team or project (e.g., "Product Team," "Sales Team"). This is especially useful in shared team spaces where multiple people are generating content.
Tip: Team leads can use the search function in the Chat tab to audit recurring topics across the team—a great way to identify processes that should be upgraded to workflows.
The Prompt Library: Pre-Built & Custom Prompts [6:10]
If you're unsure how to start a prompt or want a head start, the Browse Prompts button opens Copy.ai's built-in prompt library. Pre-built prompts are organized by category:
Content & SEO (blog outlines, FAQ generators)
Email Marketing
Paid Ads
PR & Communications
Recruiting
Sales
Social Media
Strategy
When you select a prompt, it populates the prompt box automatically. Anything highlighted in purple is a placeholder for you to fill in with your specific details.
Custom Prompts
You can also create and save your own reusable prompts:
Click Custom in the prompt library.
Give it a name (e.g., "Customer Support Doc").
Write your prompt template.
Click Save.
Your custom prompt will be available anytime you browse prompts. You can edit and update it at any point.
How long should a prompt be? For manually written prompts, longer is almost always better. The most common problem is prompts that are too short and expect too much. A good rule of thumb: if you were handing this task to an intern, what instructions and context would you provide so they could do it again next week?
Using the Improve Button for Better Prompts [9:58]
If you've written a prompt but want to make it more detailed, click the Improve button. This uses AI to expand and refine your prompt automatically.
For example, a simple prompt like "Create a list of 7 frequently asked questions about chat AI tools" might get expanded to include an introduction section, structured formatting, and even schema markup suggestions.
You are not committed to anything the Improve feature generates—review the expanded prompt, remove what you don't need, and edit before running.
Note on output display: Unlike ChatGPT or Claude, which stream text as it generates, Copy.ai Chat delivers the full output at once in a batch. A "Working on it" status indicator confirms the system is processing. The total generation time is the same—it simply displays all at once rather than word by word.
Choosing the Right LLM (Model Agnostic) [11:51]
Copy.ai is model agnostic, meaning it does not lock you into a single AI model or use a proprietary LLM. Instead, you get access to the leading models from three providers:
Copy.ai's product team updates available models regularly, typically within a couple of weeks of a new release.
Recommendations by Task
Research: Google Gemini tends to perform well for research-oriented tasks.
Writing: Claude (especially Opus variants) is often strong for writing quality.
General: Experiment across models—sometimes switching the LLM is all you need to get better outputs.
How to Switch Models
You can change the model at any time within a chat. When switching, you have two options:
Just this chat: Apply the model change only to the current conversation.
Set as default: Make the selected model your default for all future chats.
Tip: Use Chat to test which model works best for specific types of tasks. When you later build workflows, you can assign the right model to each step based on what you learned.
Configuring Brand Voice [13:04]
Brand Voice ensures your AI-generated content matches your organization's tone and style. You can create unlimited brand voices and switch between them per chat.
Creating a Brand Voice
Navigate to Configuration > Brand Voice > Create New Brand Voice. You have two input methods:
URL: Paste a webpage URL (e.g., your homepage), and Copy.ai will scrape and analyze the writing style.
Text sample: Paste a blog post, article, or any writing sample you want the AI to emulate.
After analysis, name the brand voice (e.g., "Blog Voice," "Executive Thought Leadership") and save it.
Common Brand Voice Strategies
Applying a Brand Voice
Once saved, your brand voices appear in the chat interface. Select the appropriate voice before generating content, and switch between them as needed.
Using Infobase for Persistent Context [17:12]
Infobase is a persistent knowledge store that sits behind your Copy.ai Chat. Think of it as background information you can pull into any prompt on demand—without re-typing it every time.
Creating an Infobase Entry
Navigate to Configuration > Infobase > Create Infobase:
Name the entry (e.g., "Writing Rules and Guidelines").
Add content by either uploading a file (TXT or PDF) or pasting text directly.
Save the entry.
Common Infobase uses include:
Writing style guidelines (e.g., "no em dashes," formatting rules)
ICP or customer persona information
Product documentation or messaging frameworks
Using Infobase in a Prompt
To reference an Infobase entry in any chat prompt, type # and select the entry from the dropdown. The full content of that entry is automatically injected into the prompt context.
Sharing Across the Workspace
Infobase entries can be shared across your entire workspace. This means product, marketing, sales, and customer success teams can all draw from the same central source of knowledge—ensuring consistency across every piece of content.
Security note: Copy.ai is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. All data stored in Infobase (and generated in Chat) is siloed within your workspace. None of it is used to train any LLM.
Editing Outputs with the Inline Editor [20:06]
Rather than re-prompting and risking a worse output, use the inline editor to refine content that's already close to what you need.
AI outputs are probabilistic—the same prompt will produce different results each time. If your first output is 85% of the way there, re-prompting might drop it to 65% because elements you liked in the first version may not appear in the second.
How to Use the Editor
Click Add to Editor on any chat output. The inline editor supports:
Headings
Bold, italics, strikethrough
Bulleted and ordered lists
Links
Capitalization changes
Format removal
Make your edits, then copy and paste the final version to your destination platform.
When to Use Chat vs. Workflows vs. Content Agents [23:59]
Choosing the right tool for the job is critical. Here's how to decide:
The Key Distinction
Chat = Tasks. Use it when you need a thinking partner for strategy, or when the task is a one-off that you won't need to repeat in the same structured way.
Workflows = Processes. Use them when you need consistent structure, tone, and quality across multiple outputs, and when the process will be repeated regularly.
A note for team leads: The most common barrier to workflow adoption is: "I know it will save me 80 hours next month, but I can't find the 8 hours this month to build it." If your team is running the same chat prompts week after week, it's worth investing the time to convert those into workflows. Use the Chat search function to audit recurring patterns and identify candidates for automation.