AI Assistant

Ask AI anything — answer questions, generate content, and work with screen context.

Most AI presets in VivaDicta work as text processors — they clean up, reformat, or translate your speech. The Assistant preset is different: it's a conversational AI that can answer questions, generate content, and work with your screen context.

How It Works

When you use the Assistant preset, VivaDicta treats your spoken words as a question or instruction — not text to polish. You speak naturally, and the AI responds with a direct answer pasted at your cursor.

• "What's the capital of France?" → Pastes: Paris
• "Write a polite email declining this meeting" → Pastes a complete email draft
• "Summarize what's on my screen" → Reads your screen via OCR and pastes a summary
• "Translate this to Spanish" (with text selected) → Pastes the translation

Trigger Words

You can configure trigger words that automatically activate the Assistant — even if a different preset is selected.

For example, set "Hey assistant" as a trigger word. Then:

1. You're using the Regular preset for normal dictation.
2. You say: "Hey assistant, what time zone is Tokyo in?"
3. VivaDicta detects the trigger word, switches to Assistant mode, strips the trigger word, and processes your question.
4. After the response, it automatically switches back to your previous preset.

Configure trigger words in the AI processing settings. You can add multiple trigger words — the longest match wins. Trigger words can appear at the beginning or end of your speech.

Context Awareness

The Assistant can use context from your Mac to give better answers:

• Clipboard — references what you last copied.
• Screen text (OCR) — reads text visible on your screen.
• Selected text — works with your current text selection.

Each context source is opt-in per Viva Mode. When you say "rewrite this email," the Assistant can see the email on your screen or in your selection and act on it.

Clean Output

Unlike chatbots that add "Sure! Here's your answer:" or "Let me know if you need anything else!" — the Assistant gives pure output only. No preamble, no commentary, no sign-offs. Just the direct answer, pasted right where you need it.

Setup

1. Select Assistant (🤖) from the AI preset list, or assign it to a keyboard shortcut slot (e.g., ⌘3).
2. Optionally, set up trigger words for hands-free activation.
3. Enable context sources (clipboard, screen, selected text) in your Viva Mode for richer answers.

Assistant vs Other Presets