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AI-Native Database Service:Forecast Agent

Last Updated:Sep 04, 2026

Forecast Agent is a multi-agent AI deduction workbench. Create agent groups from interviews, research reports, news, business materials, or data, let agents with different profiles, stances, relationships, and background memories interact in a specified scenario, and then trace how a group conclusion forms.

Overview

Forecast Agent is the multi-agent AI deduction engine provided by AI-Native Database Service (AIDBS). It offers the following capabilities:

  1. Identifies people, organizations, events, and relationships from text or databases to build a knowledge graph.

  2. Generates digital agents with independent personas, memories, and behavioral logic based on the knowledge graph.

  3. Runs group deductions and simulations in six types of deduction scenarios.

  4. Presents the deduction process and results through the simulation event stream, foresight recommendations, and the graph generated during the simulation.

  5. Supports deeper simulated research through one-on-one chats, group chats, surveys, and collaborative tasks with agents.

Important

Deduction results, foresight recommendations, and collaborative task reports are generated by AI. Verify the accuracy of the content before you act on it.

Access Forecast Agent

  1. Log on to the AI-Native Database Service console.

  2. In the Data Agent section of the left-side navigation pane, click Forecast Agent.

  3. Click Activate. After activation is complete, you enter the Forecast Agent workspace.

Note

Forecast Agent is a browser-based application and does not require a client installation.

Core concepts

Concept

Description

UI entry

Workspace

The space that stores your business data and the business data of your team. Data is isolated between workspaces.

The workspace menu in the lower-left corner of the page

Agent group

A set of virtual participants that have profiles, stances, relationships, and background memories. The group determines who takes part in a deduction or a chat.

Agent Groups

Sandbox

A container for a business scenario in which you can run deductions repeatedly. A sandbox is usually bound to one agent group.

Sandbox

Deduction

A specific simulation task in a sandbox. A deduction contains a discussion question, a scenario, a duration, and output goals.

Create Deduction on the sandbox details page

Chat collaboration

A one-on-one conversation with a single agent, or a group chat, survey, or collaborative task that involves multiple agents.

Chat Collaboration

Foresight recommendations

Follow-up action options, risk alerts, and recommended directions that are generated from the deduction process.

The Foresight Recommendations tab on the deduction page

Use cases

Scenario

Description

Information spread and public opinion forecasting

Observe how a policy, news report, announcement, or product launch spreads, and which nodes amplify, weaken, or misinterpret the information.

Stance evolution

Analyze whether group opinions converge, split, or polarize, and which interactions drive stance changes.

Multi-option decision-making

Compare the support and opposition that each candidate option receives, and identify stable consensus, minority opinions, and potential risks.

Fact correction

Observe how rumors, misunderstandings, or false statements are supported, questioned, and corrected, and which misunderstandings remain after the discussion ends.

Buzz and word-of-mouth influence

Determine whether early likes, ratings, trending lists, or comments affect subsequent participation and judgment.

Key figure intervention

Analyze how the discussion direction and participation behavior of a group change before and after an expert, KOL, manager, or regulator joins.

Agent interviews and collaboration

Collect the viewpoints of different roles through one-on-one chats, group chats, surveys, or collaborative tasks, and obtain structured results.

Navigate the home page

The left side of the home page is the main navigation pane, which contains the following entries.

Navigation entry

Description

Sandbox

Create and manage sandboxes, and view historical deductions, knowledge graphs, and participants on the sandbox details page.

Chat Collaboration

Create one-on-one chats or group chats, and run surveys and collaborative tasks.

Agent Groups

Create and manage agent groups, ontologies, agent members, and knowledge graphs.

Note

The current workspace is displayed in the lower-left corner of the page. Confirm that the workspace is correct before you start. After you switch workspaces, only the business data of the new workspace is displayed.

Deduction workflow

A complete deduction usually consists of the following stages:

  1. Confirm the current workspace.

  2. Prepare source materials and create an agent group.

  3. Create a sandbox and bind an agent group.

  4. Select a scenario, enter a question, and start the deduction.

  5. View the event stream, statistics, foresight recommendations, and simulation graph.

Note

The first time that you open Forecast Agent, a tutorial for new users appears to help you get started. To view the tutorial again, click Workspace in the lower-left corner of the page and then click Getting Started.

Create an agent group

An agent group determines which members participate in a deduction. The more complete the source materials are and the closer they are to your real business, the more accurate the generated agent profiles are. Skip this section if you use a built-in agent group.

  1. In the left-side navigation pane, click Agent Groups.

  2. Click Create Agent Group.

  3. Enter a name for the agent group.

  4. Select the source of the seed materials for building the group. You can upload materials or pull data from a database.

    • Select Upload Materials, and then paste text or upload files in the Source Text field.

    • Select Database. The system pulls the databases that are registered in Agent Data Gateway as data sources. You can select a single table or view in the database as the seed material.

  5. Optional: Specify a Creation Goal to describe the type of population that you want to create, the differences that you expect between members, and the question that you plan to discuss. If you leave this field empty, the system infers the goal from the source materials.

  6. Click Generate Ontology.

  7. Check the suggested entity types, edge types, and previewed candidate entities. Adjust them as needed, and then click Create Agent Group.

  8. On the agent group details page, wait for the knowledge graph to be built. The system generates the agent group based on the entities in the graph. When the tag at the top of the page changes to Ready, the agent group is built.

Note

You can upload files in the pdf, docx, xlsx, csv, md, and txt formats. The maximum size of a single file is 50 MB. When you use a database as the data source, up to one million rows of data are supported.

Use a built-in agent group

To help you start a deduction quickly, the system provides built-in agent groups that are already built. Click Create Copy in the upper-right corner of a target agent group to copy the group for subsequent use.

Prepare source materials

You can upload business background information, excerpts from user interviews, product descriptions, social media comments, competitor information, or policy texts. Provide sufficient context instead of a single short sentence. Scanned PDF files and documents with a messy layout can degrade extraction quality, so use source files that contain clear text and a complete structure.

You can also upload persona description files to build the agent group more precisely. A persona file works best when it covers the role identity, main concerns, decision logic, behavioral boundaries, and relationships with other members. The following excerpt is a sample persona text:

Lin Zhiyao

Lin Zhiyao is a 23-year-old UX designer who is curious but restrained, and who tries a product before judging its brand. For everyday items, she tests samples in experience stores, and she shares her experience with friends only when the product is easy to operate and the material holds up after a week of use. Co-branded editions and social buzz only make her notice a product; they do not replace durability verification.

A free trial lowers her barrier to trying something new, but a public recommendation increases her sense of responsibility: if the after-sales terms are vague, she prefers to stay silent. When a project deadline approaches, she sticks to familiar products, and she accepts a small premium for design only after a bonus payout. When a specific positive review from a friend conflicts with a long-term failure record, she looks for a reversible way to try the product instead of relying on general approval.

Lin Zhiyao to He Yufen

The two met at a community digital literacy event. Lin Zhiyao demonstrates how to search, compare prices, and return items, and He Yufen performs each step herself. The goal is to increase He Yufen's autonomy rather than to place orders for her. When a high-value payment or a password is involved, or when He Yufen explicitly declines, the demonstration stops and the two verify the operation together.

To build a large number of members at a time, upload a structured population attribute table in the XLSX or CSV format. Each row represents an agent and each column represents a profile field. For a car consumer population, the fields can include virtual_name, segment, age_band, occupation_type, household_income_band, city_tier, purchase_stage, purchase_motivation, style_preference, budget_sensitivity, and decision_style.

Specify the creation goal

The creation goal is optional and helps the system build the agent group more accurately. Start by describing the type of population that you want to create, and then add one or two key differences or intended uses. You do not need to define every profile attribute and rule at once.

Example: Create an agent group of different consumer types, including people who focus more on price, quality, or user experience, to discuss feedback on a new product.

Configure and maintain an ontology

An ontology defines the entity types and relationship types that may appear in the source materials. Proper type settings help the system build agents and knowledge graphs that better match your business semantics.

Adjust the suggested ontology during creation

  • All entity types and edge types are selected by default. A highlighted tag indicates that the type is retained. Click a tag to clear the selection, and click it again to select the type.

  • When the agent group is created, only the currently selected entity types and edge types are used.

  • Candidate entities are only a preview of the recognition results. You do not need to select them one by one.

  • If a required type is missing, enter a name in Custom Vertex Type or Custom Edge Type and click Add. New types are selected automatically.

  • If you return to the left pane and modify the source text or the creation goal, click Generate Ontology again and check the selection results.

Use short, unambiguous names and a consistent naming convention for custom types. For example, use Consumer and KOL for vertex types, and CARES_ABOUT and INFLUENCES for edge types. Add a type only when a key business type is missing, and avoid creating many types with similar meanings.

Maintain an ontology after creation

  1. Go to the agent group details page and click Ontology Management at the top of the page.

  2. Switch between the Entities and Relationships tabs.

  3. Click Add Entity Type or Add Relationship Type, enter a name, and confirm the operation.

  4. Click an existing type card to add a description for the type. For an entity type, you can also specify whether the type represents a person or an organization.

  5. To update the graph and members based on the latest ontology, click Rebuild Agents and wait for the task to complete.

Important

Rebuilding agents clears the current graph and all agents, including members that you added or edited manually, and then regenerates them based on the latest ontology.

Manage agents

Add a custom agent

If the generated group lacks a role that must be present, add an agent manually.

  1. Click Agent List and then click Add.

  2. Enter a name and describe the persona in Markdown.

  3. Click Add in the form. After the agent is created, the member is labeled Manual.

Note

A persona description works best when it covers the role identity, main concerns, decision logic, and speaking style. A full biography is not required.

Delete an agent

The system reduces noise and resolves ambiguity when it builds an agent group, but some agents may still not meet your expectations. In this case, delete the agents manually.

Click Agent List, move the pointer over the target agent, and then click the delete icon that appears on the right. After an agent is deleted, the system automatically removes the corresponding entities and relationships from the graph.

Edit a persona and start a temporary conversation

The system generates a persona for each agent based on the uploaded background materials. You can also modify a persona.

  1. Click Agent List and select the agent that you want to edit.

  2. On the persona page, click Edit and modify the persona in the text box. Use Markdown to obtain better results.

To verify whether a persona meets your expectations, click Chat in the upper-right corner of the agent persona page and start a temporary conversation with the agent.

Create a sandbox and a deduction

A sandbox is the container for the business scenario of a deduction. Use one sandbox for one clear topic, such as public opinion forecasting for a product launch or marketing copy selection.

Create a sandbox

  1. In the left-side navigation pane, click Sandbox.

  2. Click Create Sandbox, enter a name and a description for the sandbox, and then click Next.

  3. Select an agent group that is in the Ready state, and then click Create Sandbox.

Note

You can create a sandbox without binding an agent group, but you must complete the binding before you can create a deduction. To involve only some members of an agent group in a deduction, click Agent Group Members on the right side of the sandbox page and select the members that you want to participate.

Create a deduction

Click Create Deduction in the upper-right corner of the sandbox page to configure the deduction. Forecast Agent provides six types of deduction scenarios. Each scenario has its own input fields, default focus areas, and applicable questions.

Deduction scenario

Applicable questions

Main input fields

Information diffusion

Observe how a message, policy, news report, or announcement spreads.

Initial Information

Stance evolution

Observe whether opinions converge, split, or polarize.

Discussion Topic, Stance Space (optional), Opening Post (optional)

Multi-option consensus

Compare multiple candidate options and determine which option the group finally supports.

Decision Question, at least two candidate options

Fact correction

Verify the impact of a rumor, misunderstanding, false statement, or clarification plan.

Disputed Claim, Early Feedback Condition

Buzz and word-of-mouth influence

Observe whether likes, ratings, trending lists, or early comments bias the judgment of the group.

Launch Content, Early Feedback Condition

Key figure intervention

Observe the impact after an expert, KOL, manager, or regulator joins the discussion.

Opening Post before the intervention, key figures and their viewpoints

After you determine the deduction scenario, perform the following steps to complete the configuration.

  1. Select a deduction scenario and specify the core fields that the scenario requires.

  2. Optional: Add a stance space, an opening post, candidate options, an early feedback condition, or key figures.

  3. Expand Report Focus Areas and check or adjust the questions that the Foresight Migration must answer for this deduction.

  4. Set the duration and the time unit of the simulated deduction.

  5. Confirm the participants, the input content, and the duration, and then click Start Deduction.

Common settings

  • Report Focus Areas supports up to six items. If you keep the existing content, the system uses the default questions of the scenario. You can also modify, delete, or add questions.

  • Simulated Deduction Duration consists of a value and a unit, and the unit can be hours or days. The duration indicates the time that elapses in the simulated world. The minimum duration is 1 hour and the maximum duration is 365 days (1 year).

Input guidelines for each deduction scenario

Information diffusion

Enter the complete original text of the first release in the Initial Information field. Do not summarize conclusions for the group in advance. Specify the time, scope, target, and exceptions as clearly as possible.

Sample input

Initial Information: Starting September 1, 2026, the downtown area of the city runs a 30-day trial of odd-even license plate restrictions for fuel-powered passenger cars from 07:00 to 09:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00 on weekdays. New energy vehicles, ambulances on duty, and school buses are exempt. Residents can check whether a vehicle is restricted on a given day in the City Transport mini program. Violations receive only a reminder in the first week of the trial, and penalties apply from September 8.

Stance evolution

Both Stance Space and Opening Post are optional. Specify them when you already know the main stances, which makes later comparison easier. Leave them empty when you are not sure, and the system infers the stances from the topic.

Sample input

  • Discussion Topic: Starting January 2027, should the company make every Friday a company-wide remote work day?

  • Stance Space (optional): Support / Conditional support / Oppose / Undecided.

  • Opening Post (optional): The company is evaluating a fixed remote work day. Discuss whether the policy should be adopted and which prerequisites are required, based on cross-team collaboration efficiency, employee commuting costs, customer response speed, and management fairness.

Multi-option consensus

Specify at least two candidate options. Describe each option along the same dimensions, such as target users, benefits, costs, and risks, instead of highlighting the advantages of only one option.

Sample input

  • Decision Question: Which packaging version should the new product finally use?

  • Option A (minimalist professional): White and platinum colors that emphasize a professional look; suitable for business users; production costs are roughly the same as the current version; the risk is weak visual recognition on social platforms.

  • Option B (young and energetic): Highly saturated contrasting colors that suit younger users; high recognition on social platforms; production costs increase by 8%; the risk is that the established professional brand image may weaken.

  • Option C (eco-friendly material): Recyclable kraft paper that emphasizes sustainability; production costs increase by 5%; the risk is that moisture resistance and a premium feel still require verification.

Fact correction

Enter the original claim that requires correction, and do not mix the clarification conclusion into the same field. When you compare different early feedback conditions, change only this setting in each run.

Sample input

  • Disputed Claim: Online posts claim that the company will cancel all membership discounts in physical stores next month, that existing members will be able to use points only online, and that in-store purchases will no longer receive any discount.

  • Early Feedback Condition: Natural control.

To compare how early public opinion affects the correction result, keep the disputed claim and the participants unchanged, and then run the deduction once with Preset Positive Buzz and once with Preset Negative Buzz.

Buzz and word-of-mouth influence

Keep the launch content as close as possible to the real announcement, and retain the price, benefits, and restrictions. When you compare different feedback conditions, do not change the content or the participants at the same time.

Sample input

  • Launch Content: The brand officially releases the P1 portable projector at CNY 1,999. The product targets camping and rental scenarios and supports 1080p resolution and autofocus. Early adopters can return the product within 7 days without providing a reason. However, outdoor use requires a separate power supply, and some streaming platforms require a separate membership.

  • Early Feedback Condition: Preset positive buzz.

For a controlled deduction, keep the launch content and the participants unchanged, select Natural Control, Preset Positive Buzz, and Preset Negative Buzz in separate runs, and then compare the three results.

Key figure intervention

You can specify one or more key figures. Describe the identity, source of credibility, main viewpoints, and suggested actions of each figure. A name alone reduces the explainability of the results.

Sample input

  • Opening Post before the intervention: The platform announces that the merchant commission rate will increase from 20% to 25% starting next month. The platform states that the additional fees will fund traffic subsidies and after-sales guarantees, but some merchants are concerned that operating costs will continue to rise.

  • Key figure 1: Li Chen, an industry researcher who has tracked local lifestyle platforms for years and contributed to several industry cost studies. His view is that the available data is insufficient to conclude that the commission increase will cause a large-scale merchant exodus. He suggests that the platform first disclose how the commission is used and provide merchant revenue estimates, and then observe the effect for one settlement cycle.

  • Key figure 2: Wang Min, a merchant association representative who participates in platform rule discussions on behalf of small and medium-sized merchants. Her view is that the commission increase significantly reduces the profit of low-margin merchants. She suggests that the platform postpone the change and invite merchants of different sizes to assess the impact together.

View the deduction process and results

The top of the deduction page displays the current status, the number of rounds, the number of events, and the number of members. The page contains the following main tabs:

  • Simulation Event Stream: View system actions and agent actions to understand what happens in the simulated world.

  • Agents: View the participation, stance changes, and interview content of each agent.

  • Agent Statistics: View aggregated information such as participation levels and action distribution.

  • Foresight Recommendations: View the summary of the simulated world, key risks and suggestions, follow-up action plans, and recommended directions.

  • Simulation Graph: View how relationships emerge or strengthen during the deduction. You can also chat with the graph in the graph sidebar.

Use chat collaboration

Chat collaboration is suitable for interviews and co-creation with agents outside a deduction. You can converse with a single agent, or create a group chat in which multiple agents reply to the same question, complete a survey, or finish a task together.

Create a group chat

In the left-side navigation pane, click Chat Collaboration to go to the page, and then click Create Group Chat. Only agent groups in the Ready state appear in the list of available members, and members can come from different agent groups.

In a group chat, you can ask a question to all members or to specific members. To address specific members, use @All or @member name.

Send a survey

A survey is suitable for collecting structured answers from multiple agents at a time.

  1. At the top of the group chat page, click Send Survey.

  2. Select the question type, enter the survey title and the questions, and then click Issue Survey.

  3. On the right side of the group chat page, click Survey Records to view the surveys that you sent and the collected results.

Start a collaborative task

Agents in a group chat can also run multi-agent tasks, such as finalizing a plan or writing marketing copy.

  1. At the top of the group chat page, click Collaborative Task, enter the task content in the dialog box, and then click Start Collaborative Task. The system creates an execution plan based on the task requirements.

  2. After the collaboration plan is generated, click View and Approve to confirm the plan.

  3. The agents run the assigned tasks based on the plan. After the system aggregates the results of all tasks, it generates a final report and writes the report back to the group chat.

Best practices

  • Run multiple deductions with the same group: Use one agent group in multiple sandboxes or multiple deductions, and verify a different question or scenario in each run.

  • Run controlled experiments: Keep the group and the deduction duration unchanged, modify only one input variable in each run, and then compare the differences between the results.

  • Chat first, deduce later: Before a formal deduction, use one-on-one chats to check whether the profiles and the speaking styles of key members meet your expectations.

  • Ask follow-up questions based on the graph: After a deduction is complete and the results are written back to the graph, ask follow-up questions about key nodes and relationships to better understand how the results formed.

FAQ

Symptom

Possible cause

Solution

The Create Deduction button is unavailable.

The sandbox is not bound to an agent group, or the group contains no members in the Ready state.

Return to the sandbox details page and bind an agent group. If necessary, add members on the agent group details page and wait until their state changes to Ready.

An agent group has no graph, or the graph contains very few nodes.

The graph is not built yet, or the provided source materials are insufficient.

Add more source materials and click Build Graph. To adjust the types, generate the ontology again based on the source materials.

The deduction scenario that the system recommends does not meet your expectations.

The discussion question is not specific enough, or the scenario-specific fields are incomplete.

Select the scenario manually and complete the scenario-specific fields. If necessary, modify the report focus areas.

Foresight recommendations cannot be generated.

The deduction is not complete, or the results are still being written back to the graph.

Wait until the deduction is complete or stop the deduction manually, and confirm that the write-back to the graph is finished.

No members are available in chat collaboration.

The agent group contains no members in the Ready state, or no agent group is available in the current workspace.

Confirm that the workspace is correct. Add or regenerate members, and create the conversation after the members are ready.

The entry for surveys or collaborative tasks is not visible.

You have not opened a specific group chat, or you are in a one-on-one chat or on an empty conversation list.

Create or open a group chat. The related entries appear in the title area of the group chat.

A collaborative task does not generate a report.

The task is still being planned or running, or the plan is not approved yet.

Go to the collaborative task panel to check the status, review the plan, and approve the execution. After the task is complete, the report is written back to the group chat.

The original data is not visible after you switch workspaces.

Business data is isolated between workspaces.

Switch back to the original workspace, or contact your administrator to add you to the corresponding workspace.