AI is only as good as the information it can reach. Every large language model has a knowledge cutoff, and for anything happening right now (today's news, a price, a score, a freshly released product), that cutoff is exactly where the model starts guessing.
Until now, web search in Fello AI had to be triggered manually. If you wanted a grounded, up-to-date answer, you had to remember to switch on the Online Search skill before asking. Forget to toggle it, and your question went straight to the model with no fresh context, sometimes resulting in a confidently wrong answer.
It worked, but it put the burden on users. You had to predict whether your own question needed the internet, every single time.
Adaptive Search changes that. Fello AI now decides when to search the web for you, automatically and almost instantly, for every message.
Note: Adaptive Search is currently in beta and works with all of Fello AI's most popular AI providers, including GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity.
What Adaptive Search Actually Does
Adaptive Search reads your question and makes a quick judgment call: does answering this well require current, real-world data?
- If it doesn't, Fello AI answers straight from the model: fast, no delay, exactly like before.
- If it does, Fello AI quietly checks online sources first, grounds the answer in what it finds, and gives you the response with citations you can verify. All in less than a second.
You don't press anything. You don't think about it. You just ask, and Fello AI figures out the right path automatically.
When Fello AI Skips the Web
Plenty of questions are timeless. The answer today is the same as it was two years ago, and the model already knows it cold. For these, going online would only add latency for no benefit, so Adaptive Search stays out of the way:
- "Explain how photosynthesis works."
- "Write a Python function to reverse a linked list."
- "What's the difference between TCP and UDP?"
- "Give me a polite way to decline a meeting invite."
- "Summarize the plot of Hamlet."
These get instant, direct answers. No waiting, no unnecessary lookups.
When Fello AI Reaches for the Web
Other questions are only as good as their freshness. The moment your question leans on something recent, specific, or fast-changing, Adaptive Search steps in and grounds the answer in live data:
- "What did Apple announce at their event this week?"
- "What's the current price of the M4 MacBook Pro?"
- "Who won the game last night?"
- "What are people saying about the new Ferrari release?"
- "What's the weather in Prague this weekend?"
Instead of a stale or hedged answer, you get a current one, backed by real sources.
Why This Makes Fello AI Better for Everyone
You stop babysitting a toggle. The biggest friction with the old flow was purely mental: constantly asking yourself "wait, does this need search on?" Adaptive Search removes that decision entirely.
Fewer confidently wrong answers. The worst outcome with a manual switch was forgetting to flip it and getting an outdated answer that sounded right. Now, if your question needs fresh data, Fello AI catches it.
No speed tax on simple questions. Because search only fires when it's actually useful, your everyday questions stay as fast as they've always been. You get grounding only when it earns its keep.
Trustworthy by default. When Fello AI does go online, every answer comes with citations, so you can check the sources yourself or dig deeper.
What It Enables
Adaptive Search turns Fello AI into an assistant you can just talk to without managing modes. A few things it quietly unlocks:
- Mixed conversations flow naturally. Ask a general question, then a current-events follow-up, then a coding question, and Fello AI switches between grounded and direct answers on its own, message by message.
- Better research without the setup. You don't have to plan ahead or reconfigure anything to get a fact-checked answer. You just ask.
- Fewer surprises. No more "oh, I forgot search was off" moments after you've already acted on an answer.
You're Still in Control
Adaptive Search is about removing busywork, not taking away choice. The Online Search and Deep Research options are still right there in the skills dropdown whenever you want to force the issue. For example, when you know you want a thorough, sourced deep-dive, or when you want to guarantee a web lookup regardless of how the question reads.
- Adaptive Search (automatic): the new default. Fello AI decides per message.
- Online Search (manual): force a live web lookup for this conversation.
- Deep Research (manual): go deep, with extensive multi-source research when you need the full picture.
The smart default handles the everyday. The manual controls are there for when you want the wheel.
Try It
Adaptive Search is live in Fello AI version 6.8.0 or higher. Just update, open a chat, and ask whatever's on your mind, and Fello AI will handle the rest.
