Opening

Notion AI is not magic. It is a retrieval system plus a reasoning system.

When it gives a great answer, it is usually because it found great material in the workspace and had enough structure to interpret it.

When it gives a vague answer, it is usually because the workspace did not give it good signal, or because the signal lived somewhere Notion cannot index richly.

TLDR

• Notion AI gets context locally first, then by searching.
• Notion content is indexed with rich structure. Connected tools are indexed more flatly.
• The best workaround for "far away" information is to bring the signal back into Notion as clear summaries.

The Core Mechanic: How Al Gets Context

Al does not have background awareness of your workspace. It only knows what is in the current conversation, plus what it actively goes and finds.

There are four ways it gets context.

1. The page you're on (always first)

Notion automatically passes the current page or database to Al before the conversation even starts.

This is the most reliable form of context. It is why asking a question while you are on the relevant project or record gives better answers than asking from a neutral view.

2. What's explicitly in the chat

If you paste text, screenshots, or mention a page directly, Al can use that as immediate context.

Combined with the current page context, this is often the strongest starting point.

3. Semantic search: how retrieval really happens

When Al runs search, it is querying across the workspace (and any connected sources) by meaning, not just keywords.